poor tourism attraction

15 Beloved Places Struggling With Overtourism

By CNT Editors

Tourism can provide an incredible economic boost, sure, but it can also be harmful to the environment and put pressure on local populations. This isn't new news: All you've got to do is pick up your phone and scroll through the headlines to see the ways in which overtourism, or the negative effects of too many tourists visiting somewhere at once, is playing out around the globe. Few places—whether they be cities, historical sites, national parks, or entire countries—are immune.

Not all hope is lost, though. Certain destinations have addressed the problem head on, and put into place laws that preserve the rights of locals while still accommodating thousands of annual visitors. Others have gotten creative with redirecting those very visitors, or simply added restrictions meant to curtail the number (and type) of travelers. With this in mind, here's how several destinations around the world have proposed—or put into place—measures restricting tourists.

This post was originally published in June 2015. It has been updated with new information.

The problem: Last year, ten million travelers visited Mallorca, the largest of Spain's Balearic Islands, according to the European Union Regional Development Fund —up from just six million in 2010. This year, an average of 1,094 flights will land on the island each day during peak season, which runs May through October. By boat, it's not much better: some days see as many as 17,000 cruise ship passengers arriving, according to The Telegraph . As previously reported by Traveler 's Erin Florio, this summer, local advocacy group Ciutat distributed fliers in Catalan, English, and German at the airport, saying the human pressure of tourism has caused an "extreme environmental crisis" and the "commercialization of the landscape, environment, and heritage." Another group, Tot Inclos, says housing prices in Palma's Old Town have spiked, in part because of the crush of well-heeled visitors staying in properties like the Calatrava Boutique Hotel and the Hotel Can Cera.

What they’re doing about it: Last year, officials announced a doubling of the tourist tax to €4 ($4.64) per person per day; visitors pay the tax when checking out of hotels. (The funds "support a sustainable model so that tourism to the islands benefits local communities,” Pilar Carbonell, the Balearic's director of tourism told The Telegraph .) And after a surge in short-term vacation rentals showing up on platforms like Airbnb, the regional government has cracked down on the listings, banning everything except those in detached homes that are neither on public land nor in a region near an airport.

What you can do about it: Avoid high season (July and August) and instead travel in low season (November, December, January, February) or shoulder season (March, April, May, June, September, October). Avoid all-inclusive resorts, too, and stay, buy, eat, and shop local in ways that directly affect residents in positive ways.

The problem: It’s projected that Amsterdam will receive almost 20 million visitors by the end of 2018—compared to its population of less than a million, per NPR . Certain areas like the Museum Quarter and Red Light District are under more strain due to their popularity; tourists also tend to exhibit particularly “boorish” behavior at the latter, as previously reported by Traveler .

What they’re doing about it: The city has taken multiple measures to stem the flow of tourists— limiting Airbnb rentals , repackaging outlying districts as standalone destinations , banning new tourist shops from opening in the city center, and diverting tourists to less busy attractions using apps and live streams . Oh, and no more beer bikes . That’s also a thing.

What you can do about it: Visit iamsterdam’s site to see all of the less-frequented destinations you should be paying attention to—if you use the city card , public transportation is included with the fee.

The problem: Since the early 1990s, Boracay has been known as a screensaver brought to life, with dazzling white sand, so-clear-you-can-see-your-toes water, and a lush jungle backdrop, writes Traveler 's Megan Spurrell. But there's a problem: The number of annual visitors on the four-square-mile island has ballooned from 260,000 people in 2000, to more than two million just last year. Locals—hotel owners, beach vendors, taxi drivers—have scrambled to accommodate the masses, though many bigger structural questions, such as waste or trash management, have been handled with a finger-in-the-dike approach. (Rather than establish an underground sewer network, for example, many business built their own above-ground solutions of PVC pipe leading to the ocean—despite the fact that none of them had access to equipment for treating sewage.)

Over the last couple years, to many, Boracay has fallen into complete disarray. The waters known for being clear enough to see the reefs below have filled with a green algae, and illegal fishing, pollution, and unmonitored snorkeling are said to have destroyed 70-90 percent of the coral cover. In summary: “There are simply too many hotels and tourists on a small island with inadequate infrastructure to handle important issues like sewage, sanitation, garbage, and pollution,” says Catherine Heald, a luxury travel specialist at Remote Lands.

What they’re doing about it: In February of this year, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte infamously called the island a “cesspool” and demanded a six-month closure to rehabilitate it. Illegal beachfront properties have been bulldozed, new bans on one-use plastics have been put into place, and all hotels have been asked to apply for a new set of permits (which include certain operational standards—waste management among them). Though an exact number has not been set, there is talk, too, of limiting the number of travelers and workers on the island at any given time. The island will have a soft reopening on October 26 , at which time these new laws will go into place and the government will slowly assess the effect of tourism on the "new" Boracay.

What you can do about it: “Avoid Boracay for the foreseeable future,” says Heald. “Go to other beach resorts in the Philippines that are not suffering from overtourism, such as Siargao or Palawan (Amanpulo is absolute heaven).” With more than 7,641 islands in the Philippines, there are plenty of options to choose from.

The problem: Nearly 2.5 million people visited the massive 12th-century Hindu temple complex in 2017, up 12 percent over 2016, The Phnom Pehn Post reports. For the most part, visitors are crowding around the main Angkor Wat temple and Ta Prohm , a.k.a. "The Tomb Raider Temple." And they’re not just hurting the ruins, they’re affecting the surrounding areas as well. “The influx of tourists has spurred the growth of nearby urban areas, resulting in a shortage of groundwater that scientists worry could trigger a sudden collapse of the ancient monuments,” Traveler contributor Tyler Moss reported last year .

What they’re doing about it: In 2016, the Cambodian government made adjustments to lessen the intense flow of tourists. Ticket prices nearly doubled, from $20 to $37 per day per person. Ticket booths were moved away from the main East and West gates to prevent human traffic jams. And a cap of 100 visitors at a time was instituted at the Angkor Wat’s central tower. That said, no cap has been placed on the number of visitors in and out of the complex.

What you can do about it: In previous trips to Angkor Wat, Traveler editors have used experienced guides like About Angkor Cambodia to get to the historic site at 5 a.m., right when the gates open to visitors. Consider that beyond two or three main attractions, much of Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples in Siem Reap are under-touristed. Traveler ’s Lester Ledesma laid out a guide to getting to the more remote, but equally stunning, temples, too.

Hannah Towey

CNT Editors

Jessica Puckett

Steph Koyfman

The Galápagos

The problem: Some 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, these 19 islands—which inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution—host approximately 9,000 species on land and in their surrounding waters. Most of these endemic species delicately exist within the environment afforded them here, and any changes threaten their survival. By 2007, such changes became glaring: A study from the United Nations showed that, over the 15 years prior, the number of days cruise passengers spent on the Galapagos soared by 150 percent, which fueled immigration growth, and subsequently increased inter-island traffic, leading to the introduction of invasive species. That year, the United Nations observed the strain these travelers and residents had put on the archipelago, and listed the destination as an endangered heritage site.

What they’re doing about it: As a result of the UN listing, the government made a handful of significant changes to regulate cruise travel. Initially, this was reflected in a healthy, downward trend in tourism, though 2007 also marks the moment land tourism began to take off . According to numbers released by the Galapagos National Park and reported by The New York Times , visitors increased by 39 percent from 2007 to 2016, with land-based tours jumping 90 percent during that time (meanwhile, ship-based tourism decreased by 11 percent over the same period).

Today, 97 percent of the land area has been designated as part of the national park, and tourism is carefully monitored to reduce further impact on the islands’ health or wildlife. Tourists can only travel to specific visitor sites, and must adhere to 14 rules, including accompaniment by a licensed Galápagos National Park Guide. In February, the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association sent a letter to Ecuador’s tourism minister, Enrique Ponce de Leon, asking for increased regulations on land tourism, as well—but they’re still waiting to hear back.

What you can do about it: If you’re itching to visit the Galápagos for those once-in-a-lifetime wildlife sightings, book with an eco-conscious travel specialist who can consider your needs, and those of the destination. It may mean waiting for one of the limited space on the right ship. If you’re open to other wildlife experiences in the region, consider cruising the Amazon (or book at stay at an eco-lodge in one of the nine countries it spans), a trip to the “poor man’s Galápagos” in Paracas, Peru (which is rich in a thriving sea lion and Humboldt penguin population), or head further south to the Brazilian Pantanal, the world’s largest grasslands, and home to the Pantanal jaguar, giant anteater, and Yacare caiman—to name a few.

Machu Picchu

The problem: Machu Picchu’s tourism numbers have gone from zero to 100 really quickly—more specifically, from fewer than 400,000 visitors to 1.4 million tourists in just 20 years, notes writer Tyler Moss in an article for Traveler . That’s surely more traffic than the Incans ever expected (or planned for), since archeologists think only about 750 people lived in Machu Picchu at once. Travelers were allowed to climb and crawl all over the ancient Incan ruins until mid-2017, littering and eroding pathways, but that changed once UNESCO threatened to place Machu Picchu on its “List of World Heritage in Danger.”

What they’re doing about it: In 2015, the Peruvian government announced its five-year, $43.7 million plan to protect the ruins (and get themselves off the UNESCO naughty list). Phase one of that plan went into effect on July 1, 2017, limiting tourists to two timed entries each day, requiring they be aided by an approved guide, and restricting them to specific trails through the ruins. Only 5,000 tickets are available each day, more than twice the number suggested by UNESCO—a prescription ultimately ignored so as not to limit the tourist dollars the attraction currently brings in. The second phase includes a new visitors center and a restroom within the Machu Picchu National Park’s perimeter.

What you can do about it: First, play by the rules: follow the instructed paths and don’t be peeved when you can’t tramp all over the granite walls like the “good ole’ days.” Next, consider diffusing the traffic by heading to other impressive Incan ruins. The Chachapoyan ruins in northern Peru are a highlight—though be sure to explore beyond the increasingly popular Kuélap, which may itself become overtouristed. Choquequirao—which got just 16 visitors in 2016—is our other pick, though you’ll have to put in four days of hiking each way to get there from Cusco. Interested? Knowmad Adventures can help you pull it off.

The problem: As of May 2015, the number of visitors to Iceland had increased 76 percent over the same period in 2014, and by the end of 2017, Skift reported that the year had seen seven visitors per resident. And with the numbers still soaring, there are concerns that the country’s infrastructure (intended to serve a population of just 338,349 people) and attractions like the Gullfoss waterfall and Thingvellir National Park, both of which are getting busier by the day, might not be able to cope with the swells.

What they’re doing about it: The Icelandic Tourist Board and the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre are researching how “full” a site can get before detracting from the experience, and is in the first phase of reevaluating its tourism strategy. "There’s far from being pressure all over Iceland," María Reynisdóttir, Tourism Specialist at Iceland's Ministry of Industries and Innovation, told Traveler 's Katherine LaGrave. "Iceland is not overrun with tourists. But we do have problems in specific areas, parts of sites, and we’ve started to focus more on visitor management and adding infrastructure and those kinds of things, and changing our marketing message to distribute visitors." Iceland has also implemented new Airbnb regulations is one way the government is attempting regulate the influx of tourists: Locals can only rent out their apartments for up to 90 days per year before needing a hospitality license, and are also limited to a maximum earning of one million Icelandic krona ($8,785) per year, Traveler reported last year.

What you can do about it: Sign up with a tour group like Hidden Iceland , which vows to take you where the hoards aren’t, skipping the overcrowded Blue Lagoon in favor of lesser known (but equally as impressive) spots. Alternatively, consider going outside of the summer peak season, and visiting during autumn or winter. It will be colder—and you may have a lot less daylight—but it’s also the best time to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Whatever you do? Be sure to get out of Reykjavík .

The problem: Greece is on track to see a record 32 million tourists this year, a nearly 100 percent jump from its visitor numbers in 2010 (15 million) and more than five times the amount of visitors from a decade ago, reports The Independent . Santorini, at just 29 square miles, remains one of the country's most popular destinations thanks to its turn in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants , and has struggled with overtourism: The island has experienced rising water and energy consumption, and its mayor says the island’s pace is not sustainable: “It’s a radical rise and we are forever playing catch-up,” Mayor Nikos Zorzos told The Guardian . “We have built numerous desalination plants and are in the process of erecting the biggest one in Greece, but in five years’ time I worry even that won’t be enough.”

What they’re doing about it: In an effort to cut down on the number of visitors, which reached more than 10,000 a day a few years ago, Santorini capped cruise ship visitor numbers to 8,000 per day in 2017. Also related? The municipality of Santorini earlier this summer pledged to make changes to the working conditions of the island’s famed donkeys , which are used to ferry tourists around places on the island where cars can't travel, including some 600 steps up the winding, cobblestoned Karavolades stairs in the town of Fira: They will limit the weight donkeys and mules can carry and regulate the number of hours they can work.

What you can do about it: Consider flying to Santorini and spending longer than a day there (though cruises have many benefits, one of the drawbacks is that the local destination doesn’t see any overnight income from those foot travelers). See Fira and Oia, sure, but go inland to small villages like Pyrgos, Messaria, Exo Gonia, Katherados, and Vothonas. As always, skip peak season and look to travel April to early June, or from September to November. Learn about local ingredients (and recipes) via a cooking class at Selene Restaurant .

The problem: In 2017, Indonesia saw 13.7 million overseas visitors, a huge leap from 1990, when it only saw 2.2 million. Even more notable? A third of those visitors went to Bali. Though the island only had three hotels up until the 1960s—that construction boom, plus the opening of Ngurah Rai International Airport, plus that whole Eat, Pray, Love effect —has meant the island is choked with congestion and seeing water shortages. In December 2017, Bali declared a “garbage emergency” after several of the island’s most popular beaches became littered with plastic, reports The Telegraph . Tourists have also gotten in hot water for posing in front of temples in bikinis.

What they’re doing about it: Because of the rise in disrespectful behavior at sacred Hindu sites, Balinese officials said in late September that they would be reevaluating laws that allow tourists to visit temples unaccompanied. Unfortunately, not much else seems to be changing: Instead, the Indonesian government seems concentrated on replicating Bali’s success, funneling money into “10 New Balis” with significant investment—in the billions—from Singaporean and Chinese businesses.

What you can do about it: Get off the beaten paths of Kuta, Seminyak, and Ubud, and instead head to North and East Bali. Sidemen, Traveler editor Sebastian Modak points out, has all of the rice paddies of Ubud—and more. For a tailor-made trip, book a tour with Diane Embree of Bali Barong Tours : She’ll guide you to spots that don’t even appear on maps and set you up at luxury hotels almost nobody’s heard about.

The problem: Thanks to an influx of Game of Thrones fans, cruise-goers, and travelers seeking out the city’s storied ancient architecture, Dubrovnik is swamped with tourists. In 2016, more than 10,000 people bought tickets to walk the defensive walls in one day , as previously reported by Traveler . The city’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the organization is concerned that the traffic could damage the buildings; not to mention, the number of residents living in the neighborhood has dwindled by nearly 80 percent, per The Telegraph .

What they’re doing about it: Earlier this month, city mayor Mato Frankovic announced that Dubrovnik will only accept two cruise ships a day in 2019, with a max of 5,000 passengers allowed. An overall plan of limiting daily tourists to 4,000 was proposed back in August 2017 , and last January, security cameras were installed at the city’s entrances to track visitation. Coupled with Frankovic’s move to cut down on souvenir stands and restaurant tables, it’s safe to say Dubrovnik is taking the matter very seriously.

What you can do about it: Go during shoulder season (May-June; September-October). You should also consider heading up the coast to Zadar, or to the island of Vis , via Split. Both destinations are less crowded, and still offer beautiful settings on the Adriatic. Tap Wanda S. Radetti of VisitCroatia.com for the latest intel on the best hotels, wineries, restaurants, and yacht charters along the coast.

(Some) U.S. National Parks

The problem: Overtourism isn’t a problem in all U.S. national parks—in fact, 27 national parks (out of 59) get half of the total national park visitation, including Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Zion National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. Visitation numbers (more than 330 million travelers in 2017) actually went down a few thousand between 2016 and 2017, too. But it’s the historical data for some of these parks that’s striking. Take Utah’s Zion National Park, for example: In 2010, just 2.7 million visitors passed through, stopping by Angel’s Landing and the Emerald Pools, according to Skift , but the same park saw 4.5 million people, more than double in two decades. The increased visitation is causing serious traffic jams at popular Arches National Park, Yosemite National Park , and more, and parking lots fill to capacity in a matter of hours.

What they’re doing about it: The National Park Service has proposed timed entry at a number of parks, to help spread out visitors. But, the official rulings haven’t come in yet (proposals have been ongoing since 2016) and concerns are already being raised about their efficacy. Case in point? Though visitation numbers went down in 2017, time spent in the national parks went up, big time. Travelers spent more than 1.4 billion hours in various national parks in 2017—up 19 million over 2016—according to the NPS . So while timed entry would limit the number of people inside the park, it won’t help move people out of the park.

What you can do about it: One of the best options is to visit during the off-season. High season for most national parks is during the summer, when travelers have more time off—and the weather is more predictably warm—for adventure. In the case of parks like Big Bend National Park in Texas and Death Valley National Park in California , the hot summer temperatures drop to a more bearable average. And pretty much everywhere looks better with an idyllic dusting of snow. Just be sure to check NPS sites for high snowfall parks like Alaska’s Denali National Park and California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park to be sure you can get around safely (even if it means switching out hiking boots for cross-country skis).

The problem: Barcelona has a year-round population of under two million, but sees close to 32 million tourists a year, annually, reports The Local Spain . Part of that congestion is owing to the fact that Barcelona has the Mediterranean's largest port: Consider that in 1990, 115,000 cruise passengers arrived in Barcelona. By 2016, that number had soared to 2.7 million. Given that cruise ship passengers don't overnight in the city—or have much time to spend in a place, really—the most popular sites, including La Rambla, the Sagrada Familia, and Parc Güell, are incredibly congested.

What they're doing about it: As previously reported , Ada Colau, who in June 2015 was overwhelmingly voted in as Barcelona's mayor, has followed through on early promises to cut down on visitor numbers in the Catalonian capital. The city has kicked around the idea of a new tourist tax, which would charge travelers entering the city who don't stay overnight—think day-trippers, and those in town on a cruise. In January 2017, Barcelona approved a law that will help to restrict the number of visitors in the city by limiting the number of beds available from hotels and tourist apartments. The city is also taking cues from Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome and considering banning large coach buses in the center, Albert Arias Sans, Head of the Barcelona City Council’s Strategic Plan for Tourism, told Traveler 's Katherine LaGrave.

What you can do about it: Skip that Airbnb for now, and instead stay in a licensed hotel or hostel—double points if you stay in a neighborhood that's not as well known, like L'Eixample. Explore that neighborhood and its sights, and if you must see the major sites (we get it), visit in off-peak times or off-peak seasons.

Thai Islands

The problem: From the 1974 Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun , filmed on Khao Phing Kan, to the 2000 film The Beach set in Maya Bay, the appeal of Thailand’s beaches has been captured and broadcast for decades. Throngs of travelers have trooped in since, chasing the turquoise waters, dramatic limestone cliffs, and tropical foliage the region is known for—and, of course, the Insta-worthy photos.

The attention, paired with a delayed reaction by local government to regulate the beaches , has led to these stretches of sand becoming overcrowded in recent years. Koh Tachai, for example, is a popular diving and snorkeling spot in the Andaman Sea just north of Phuket that can comfortably accommodate 70 travelers at one time on any of its beaches. As of 2016, it began seeing crowds closer to 1,000 squeezing onto the sand. The Beach ’s Maya Bay, on the already-popular Koh Phi Phi Leh island, sees about 5,000 visitors per day (Maya Bay is just 820 feet long). This overcrowding has led to the decimation of entire ecosystems on these islands: Their beaches and waves have become littered with trash , their reefs severely damaged by irresponsible snorkelers and boats (Maya is estimated to have lost 80 percent of its coral cover), and marine life virtually wiped out as a result.

What they’re doing about it: The multifarious Thai government has branches that spur overtourism, while others simultaneously work to combat its effects. The latter, Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Plants, and Wildlife Conservation, is currently working overtime to combat the ruin created by the former—namely, by closing down overrun national spaces and giving them time to repair, while reassessing what responsible tourism could look like in the future. In May 2016, the DNP announced it would be closing Koh Tachai to tourists, and enacting new regulations on Koh Khai Nok, Koh Khai Nui, and Koh Khai Nai (all islands off the coast tourist hub Phuket). "We have to close [Koh Tachai] to allow the rehabilitation of the environment both on the island and in the sea without being disturbed by tourism activities before the damage is beyond repair," Tunya Netithammakul, director of the DNP at the time, told the Bangkok Post . Regulations on the other islands stimulated when, where, and how tour operators could visit the islands, and included the removal of beachfront structures deemed detrimental to the local environment.

In June of this year, the department announced it would also be closing Maya Bay to tourists for four months, before updating the mandate in October to read as an indefinite closure. "The ecosystem and the beach's physical structure have [not] yet returned to its full condition," said the DNP's announcement, noting that the bay would remain closed “until natural resources return to normal." The rehabilitation program includes reviving corals and installing boat jetties.

What you can do about it: Traveler ’s Cynthia Drescher suggests visiting Trang, Thailand: “The coast of southwestern Thailand's Trang province is speckled with island beaches, like on Koh Libong, Koh Mook, and Koh Kradan, that rival the natural beauty of Maya Bay, but see a fraction of the tourists.” And, no matter what the destination, read up on the causes of coral damage—and how to minimize your impact. For starters? Stock up on reef-safe sunscreen , don’t stand on coral—ever—and be sure to travel with eco-conscious tour operators who will guide you responsibility, like Intrepid Travel .

Mount Everest

The problem: Everest is more popular than ever—so popular, in fact, that climbers are now finding themselves stuck in traffic jams as they ascend the mountain’s treacherous slopes. Though the 2015 climbing season was officially shuttered following the Nepal earthquake that same year, the numbers quickly bounced back after the routes reopened, with 36,694 visitors passing through the Everest region in 2016. In 2017, the Nepalese government issued a record 371 permits to foreigners who wanted to attempt the summit (the highest number since 1953), a number that doubled once you included the required sherpa guides, reported the Washington Post . The sherpas are among the most concerned: Forced to collect the astonishing level of waste left behind by tourists, they have threatened to strike for higher wages to pay for the increasingly dangerous task of taking care of inexperienced climbers.

What they're doing about it: “I would describe Nepal’s national flower as a discarded plastic water bottle,” says Walter Keats, travel specialist for Asia Pacific Travel, of the level of trash now found on Everest—which is to say, the country might not be doing enough. While a handful of measures have been implemented in the past few years, including an increased fee for foreign climbers from $10,000 to $11,000; the establishment of a liaison office at base camp to verify experience, health, and climbing conditions; and a ban on solo or "novice" climbers, last year’s record number of permits doesn’t reflect great change—especially when you throw in an increasing number of wealthy day-trippers flying in by helicopter for Champagne breakfasts above base camp.

What you can do about it: A considerable problem is inexperienced climbers clogging up the routes, so think hard as to whether you’re truly equipped to do it before buying a permit. ("You need to climb at least three 20,000 peaks, one 23,000 peak, and one 26,000 peak before considering Everest,” says alpinist Adrian Ballinger . You also need 30 days in Crampons ice spikes and ten days of technical rock climbing, he says; it’s a plan that, at minimum, takes a year-and-a-half.) If you do decide to tackle the world’s highest mountain—or at least make it to base camp—then make sure you go with a reputable tour group that puts money back into the community, like World Expeditions .

The problem: In addition to rising water levels that threaten its infrastructure, the ancient city has seen such a deluge of visitors— 30 million each year—that some academics believe the native population could be zero as early as 2030. (Rising rent prices have left many locals unable to afford a place in the city.) Cruise ships also bring in thousands of passengers per year , and the traffic has been harming the surrounding ecosystem and eroding coastlines.

What they’re doing about it: Last month, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro proposed a “sitting ban,” which would fine people up to $590 for “taking a seat in any public space,” as previously reported by Traveler . This follows a sitting ban on the Rialto Bridge and “several major churches.” Tourists have also been asked to “not linger on the bridges too long” , and refrain from littering, riding a bike through the historic city center, and sightseeing in a bathing suit, as part of the 2017 campaign #EnjoyRespectVenezia. There have also been talks to ban cruise ships from the historic city center , and fast food shops (e.g. Kebab shops) are also a no-go . As a result, some hotels are reporting lower occupancy than normal .

What you can do about it: Go during shoulder season (April-June, Sept-October), and be a respectful, conscious traveler. Spread out your itinerary so you’re not hitting all the hot spots in one day and contributing to the congestion, or book a tour with a company like Walks of Italy , which will give you an inside look at the city.

By signing up you agree to our User Agreement (including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions ), our Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement and to receive marketing and account-related emails from Traveller. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tourists behaving badly are a threat to global tourism, and the industry is partly to blame

Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, University of South Australia

Disclosure statement

Freya Higgins-Desbiolles has received funding from a variety of sources during her career, including the Cooperative Research Council for Sustainable Tourism, Le Cordon Bleu Australia, the Toda Peace Institute and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Freya is currently on the Advisory Group of TriNet and a member of the Tourism Alert and Action Forum.

University of South Australia provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

Japan’s Nanzoin Temple is famous for its huge statue of a reclining Buddha. Its custodians are less laidback about the hordes of tourists the temple attracts. Signs in 12 languages now warn foreign visitors they may not enter in large groups.

It’s part of anti-tourist sentiment, driven by “ the bad manners and abhorrent actions ” of some visitors from abroad, reportedly growing all over Japan – and elsewhere in the world.

In Amsterdam, for example, city authorities have put a halt on new hotels and souvenir shops, and are cracking down on private rental platforms.

Tourism brings many benefits to communities around the world. But tourism hotspots are feeling the strain as tourist numbers increase. Locals resent being crowded out of restaurants and parks. They resent paying inflated prices. Most of all they resent tourists behaving badly.

The increasing prevalance of the badly behaved tourist, either in reality or simply as cultural meme, presents a serious issue for the tourism industry. In cities at tourism’s bleeding edge, such as Venice, resentment has boiled over into anti-tourism protests. In Barcelona the cause against foreign visitors has been embraced by left-wing nationalist activists . Their view is expressed in graffiti around Barcelona: “ Refugees welcome; tourists go home .”

Unless the tourism industry does something to address underlying aggravations, such sentiments are likely to spread. There’s a danger tourism, instead of building bridges for cross-cultural understanding and friendship, will add to the stereotypical walls that separate people.

When in Rome…

Sometimes bad behaviour is a matter of perception, and comes down to cultural differences. There are places in China, for example, where it’s perfectly acceptable to leave your restaurant table, and the floor around it, an absolute mess. Two Chinese women visiting Japan, however, became the focus of international criticism due to a video that appeared to show them being asked to leave an Osaka restaurant because of their “disgusting eating habits”.

The question arises as to why tourists don’t make more effort to understand and follow local customs.

Then there’s the question of why tourists behave in ways they wouldn’t dream of at home. Maybe it’s wearing a lime-green mankini while wandering through Krakow . Or nothing at all at Angkor Wat , Cambodia’s most holy shrine.

Read more: Tourists behaving badly: how culture shapes conduct when we're on holiday

The evidence suggests there’s something about being on holiday that simply seems to lower people’s inhibitions.

Otherwise ordinary people commit stupid acts like attempting to steal a propaganda poster in the world’s most totalitarian state. Or spray-painting grafitti on a wall of a site where millions were murdered. Or brawling for a prime selfie spot at Rome’s Trevi Fountain .

Sustainable tourism rests on a number of pillars. One of those is the need for the tourist to respect local people, cultures and environments.

The problem now, as other tourism scholars have pointed out, is that tourism is promoted as an activity of pure hedonism. Rather than being encouraged to see themselves as global citizens with both rights and responsibilities, tourists are sold an illusion of unlimited indulgence. They are positioned as consumers , with special privileges.

Is it any wonder that encourages indulgent behaviour and an attitude of entitlement?

The Tiaki promise

We know about some of the incidents mentioned because the perpetrators themselves recorded their crimes for posterity. On other occasion an offended local has done the filming.

Such is the case of the “pig” British tourists who created a media storm on their holiday to New Zealand in January. A video showing the rubbish they left behind at a beachside park turned them into a media sensation. More than 10,000 people signed a petition for them to be deported.

It’s a classic case study in how a local event can now so easily become a national or international incident.

But I believe New Zealand also provides a case study in how the global tourism industry can deal with antitourist sentiment by encouraging tourists to show greater respect.

To deal with multiple problems associated with tourists – including bad driving , damaging camping practices and to ignorance of safety in the outdoors, New Zealand’s tourism authority and operators are promoting “The Tiaki Promise”.

Tiaki is a Maori word meaning to guard, preserve, protect or shelter. An associated principle is Kaitiakitanga , an ethic of guardianship based on traditional Maori understandings of kinship between humans and the natural world.

Read more: A green and happy holiday? You can have it all

The Tiaki campaign thus asks tourists to look after New Zealand, “to act as a guardian, protecting and preserving our home”. In exchange it promises a warm welcome to those who care to care.

Such a principle of reciprocity is an inviting code for responsible tourism. The tourism industry’s challenge is to develop effective strategies to bring tourists and locals into better alignment.

The key is in communicating the priceless experiences that emerge from being with the locals rather than imposing on them.

• Global perspectives
• Overtourism

Assistant Editor - 1 year cadetship

Program Development Officer - Business Processes

Executive Dean, Faculty of Health

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Earth System Science (School of Science)

Sydney Horizon Educators (Identified)

• Tools and Resources
• Customer Services
• Agriculture and the Environment
• Case Studies
• Chemistry and Toxicology
• Environment and Human Health
• Environmental Biology
• Environmental Economics
• Environmental Engineering
• Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
• Environmental History
• Environmental Issues and Problems
• Environmental Processes and Systems
• Environmental Sociology and Psychology
• Environments
• Framing Concepts in Environmental Science
• Management and Planning
• Policy, Governance, and Law
• Quantitative Analysis and Tools
• Sustainability and Solutions
• Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Article contents

The role of tourism in sustainable development.

• Robert B. Richardson Robert B. Richardson Community Sustainability, Michigan State University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.387
• Published online: 25 March 2021

Sustainable development is the foundational principle for enhancing human and economic development while maintaining the functional integrity of ecological and social systems that support regional economies. Tourism has played a critical role in sustainable development in many countries and regions around the world. In developing countries, tourism development has been used as an important strategy for increasing economic growth, alleviating poverty, creating jobs, and improving food security. Many developing countries are in regions that are characterized by high levels of biological diversity, natural resources, and cultural heritage sites that attract international tourists whose local purchases generate income and support employment and economic development. Tourism has been associated with the principles of sustainable development because of its potential to support environmental protection and livelihoods. However, the relationship between tourism and the environment is multifaceted, as some types of tourism have been associated with negative environmental impacts, many of which are borne by host communities.

The concept of sustainable tourism development emerged in contrast to mass tourism, which involves the participation of large numbers of people, often in structured or packaged tours. Mass tourism has been associated with economic leakage and dependence, along with negative environmental and social impacts. Sustainable tourism development has been promoted in various ways as a framing concept in contrast to these economic, environmental, and social impacts. Some literature has acknowledged a vagueness of the concept of sustainable tourism, which has been used to advocate for fundamentally different strategies for tourism development that may exacerbate existing conflicts between conservation and development paradigms. Tourism has played an important role in sustainable development in some countries through the development of alternative tourism models, including ecotourism, community-based tourism, pro-poor tourism, slow tourism, green tourism, and heritage tourism, among others that aim to enhance livelihoods, increase local economic growth, and provide for environmental protection. Although these models have been given significant attention among researchers, the extent of their implementation in tourism planning initiatives has been limited, superficial, or incomplete in many contexts.

The sustainability of tourism as a global system is disputed among scholars. Tourism is dependent on travel, and nearly all forms of transportation require the use of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels for energy. The burning of fossil fuels for transportation generates emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change, which is fundamentally unsustainable. Tourism is also vulnerable to both localized and global shocks. Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to localized shocks include the impacts of natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and civil unrest. Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to global shocks include the impacts of climate change, economic crisis, global public health pandemics, oil price shocks, and acts of terrorism. It is clear that tourism has contributed significantly to economic development globally, but its role in sustainable development is uncertain, debatable, and potentially contradictory.

• conservation
• economic development
• environmental impacts
• sustainable development
• sustainable tourism
• tourism development

Introduction

Sustainable development is the guiding principle for advancing human and economic development while maintaining the integrity of ecosystems and social systems on which the economy depends. It is also the foundation of the leading global framework for international cooperation—the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015 ). The concept of sustainable development is often associated with the publication of Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development [WCED], 1987 , p. 29), which defined it as “paths of human progress that meet the needs and aspirations of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Concerns about the environmental implications of economic development in lower income countries had been central to debates about development studies since the 1970s (Adams, 2009 ). The principles of sustainable development have come to dominate the development discourse, and the concept has become the primary development paradigm since the 1990s.

Tourism has played an increasingly important role in sustainable development since the 1990s, both globally and in particular countries and regions. For decades, tourism has been promoted as a low-impact, non-extractive option for economic development, particularly for developing countries (Gössling, 2000 ). Many developing countries have managed to increase their participation in the global economy through development of international tourism. Tourism development is increasingly viewed as an important tool in increasing economic growth, alleviating poverty, and improving food security. Tourism enables communities that are poor in material wealth, but rich in history and cultural heritage, to leverage their unique assets for economic development (Honey & Gilpin, 2009 ). More importantly, tourism offers an alternative to large-scale development projects, such as construction of dams, and to extractive industries such as mining and forestry, all of which contribute to emissions of pollutants and threaten biodiversity and the cultural values of Indigenous Peoples.

Environmental quality in destination areas is inextricably linked with tourism, as visiting natural areas and sightseeing are often the primary purpose of many leisure travels. Some forms of tourism, such as ecotourism, can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of ecosystem functions in destination areas (Fennell, 2020 ; Gössling, 1999 ). Butler ( 1991 ) suggests that there is a kind of mutual dependence between tourism and the environment that should generate mutual benefits. Many developing countries are in regions that are characterized by high levels of species diversity, natural resources, and protected areas. Such ideas imply that tourism may be well aligned with the tenets of sustainable development.

However, the relationship between tourism and the environment is complex, as some forms of tourism have been associated with negative environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use, land use, and food consumption (Butler, 1991 ; Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ; Hunter & Green, 1995 ; Vitousek et al., 1997 ). Assessments of the sustainability of tourism have highlighted several themes, including (a) parks, biodiversity, and conservation; (b) pollution and climate change; (c) prosperity, economic growth, and poverty alleviation; (d) peace, security, and safety; and (e) population stabilization and reduction (Buckley, 2012 ). From a global perspective, tourism contributes to (a) changes in land cover and land use; (b) energy use, (c) biotic exchange and extinction of wild species; (d) exchange and dispersion of diseases; and (e) changes in the perception and understanding of the environment (Gössling, 2002 ).

Research on tourism and the environment spans a wide range of social and natural science disciplines, and key contributions have been disseminated across many interdisciplinary fields, including biodiversity conservation, climate science, economics, and environmental science, among others (Buckley, 2011 ; Butler, 1991 ; Gössling, 2002 ; Lenzen et al., 2018 ). Given the global significance of the tourism sector and its environmental impacts, the role of tourism in sustainable development is an important topic of research in environmental science generally and in environmental economics and management specifically. Reviews of tourism research have highlighted future research priorities for sustainable development, including the role of tourism in the designation and expansion of protected areas; improvement in environmental accounting techniques that quantify environmental impacts; and the effects of individual perceptions of responsibility in addressing climate change (Buckley, 2012 ).

Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries, and it has linkages with many of the prime sectors of the global economy (Fennell, 2020 ). As a global economic sector, tourism represents one of the largest generators of wealth, and it is an important agent of economic growth and development (Garau-Vadell et al., 2018 ). Tourism is a critical industry in many local and national economies, and it represents a large and growing share of world trade (Hunter, 1995 ). Global tourism has had an average annual increase of 6.6% over the past half century, with international tourist arrivals rising sharply from 25.2 million in 1950 to more than 950 million in 2010 . In 2019 , the number of international tourists reached 1.5 billion, up 4% from 2018 (Fennell, 2020 ; United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], 2020 ). European countries are host to more than half of international tourists, but since 1990 , growth in international arrivals has risen faster than the global average, in both the Middle East and the Asia and Pacific region (UNWTO, 2020 ).

The growth in global tourism has been accompanied by an expansion of travel markets and a diversification of tourism destinations. In 1950 , the top five travel destinations were all countries in Europe and the Americas, and these destinations held 71% of the global travel market (Fennell, 2020 ). By 2002 , these countries represented only 35%, which underscores the emergence of newly accessible travel destinations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim, including numerous developing countries. Over the past 70 years, global tourism has grown significantly as an economic sector, and it has contributed to the economic development of dozens of nations.

Given the growth of international tourism and its emergence as one of the world’s largest export sectors, the question of its impact on economic growth for the host countries has been a topic of great interest in the tourism literature. Two hypotheses have emerged regarding the role of tourism in the economic growth process (Apergis & Payne, 2012 ). First, tourism-led growth hypothesis relies on the assumption that tourism is an engine of growth that generates spillovers and positive externalities through economic linkages that will impact the overall economy. Second, the economic-driven tourism growth hypothesis emphasizes policies oriented toward well-defined and enforceable property rights, stable political institutions, and adequate investment in both physical and human capital to facilitate the development of the tourism sector. Studies have concluded with support for both the tourism-led growth hypothesis (e.g., Durbarry, 2004 ; Katircioglu, 2010 ) and the economic-led growth hypothesis (e.g., Katircioglu, 2009 ; Oh, 2005 ), whereas other studies have found support for a bidirectional causality for tourism and economic growth (e.g., Apergis & Payne, 2012 ; Lee & Chang, 2008 ).

The growth of tourism has been marked by an increase in the competition for tourist expenditures, making it difficult for destinations to maintain their share of the international tourism market (Butler, 1991 ). Tourism development is cyclical and subject to short-term cycles and overconsumption of resources. Butler ( 1980 ) developed a tourist-area cycle of evolution that depicts the number of tourists rising sharply over time through periods of exploration, involvement, and development, before eventual consolidation and stagnation. When tourism growth exceeds the carrying capacity of the area, resource degradation can lead to the decline of tourism unless specific steps are taken to promote rejuvenation (Butler, 1980 , 1991 ).

The potential of tourism development as a tool to contribute to environmental conservation, economic growth, and poverty reduction is derived from several unique characteristics of the tourism system (UNWTO, 2002 ). First, tourism represents an opportunity for economic diversification, particularly in marginal areas with few other export options. Tourists are attracted to remote areas with high values of cultural, wildlife, and landscape assets. The cultural and natural heritage of developing countries is frequently based on such assets, and tourism represents an opportunity for income generation through the preservation of heritage values. Tourism is the only export sector where the consumer travels to the exporting country, which provides opportunities for lower-income households to become exporters through the sale of goods and services to foreign tourists. Tourism is also labor intensive; it provides small-scale employment opportunities, which also helps to promote gender equity. Finally, there are numerous indirect benefits of tourism for people living in poverty, including increased market access for remote areas through the development of roads, infrastructure, and communication networks. Nevertheless, travel is highly income elastic and carbon intensive, which has significant implications for the sustainability of the tourism sector (Lenzen et al., 2018 ).

Concerns about environmental issues appeared in tourism research just as global awareness of the environmental impacts of human activities was expanding. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm in 1972 , the same year as the publication of The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972 ), which highlighted the concerns about the implications of exponential economic and population growth in a world of finite resources. This was the same year that the famous Blue Marble photograph of Earth was taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft (Höhler, 2015 , p. 10), and the image captured the planet cloaked in the darkness of space and became a symbol of Earth’s fragility and vulnerability. As noted by Buckley ( 2012 ), tourism researchers turned their attention to social and environmental issues around the same time (Cohen, 1978 ; Farrell & McLellan, 1987 ; Turner & Ash, 1975 ; Young, 1973 ).

The notion of sustainable development is often associated with the publication of Our Common Future , the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission (WCED, 1987 ). The report characterized sustainable development in terms of meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987 , p. 43). Four basic principles are fundamental to the concept of sustainability: (a) the idea of holistic planning and strategy making; (b) the importance of preserving essential ecological processes; (c) the need to protect both human heritage and biodiversity; and (d) the need to develop in such a way that productivity can be sustained over the long term for future generations (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ). In addition to achieving balance between economic growth and the conservation of natural resources, there should be a balance of fairness and opportunity between the nations of the world.

Although the modern concept of sustainable development emerged with the publication of Our Common Future , sustainable development has its roots in ideas about sustainable forest management that were developed in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries (Blewitt, 2015 ; Grober, 2007 ). Sustainable forest management is concerned with the stewardship and use of forests in a way that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, and regeneration capacity as well as their potential to fulfill society’s demands for forest products and benefits. Building on these ideas, Daly ( 1990 ) offered two operational principles of sustainable development. First, sustainable development implies that harvest rates should be no greater than rates of regeneration; this concept is known as maximum sustainable yield. Second, waste emission rates should not exceed the natural assimilative capacities of the ecosystems into which the wastes are emitted. Regenerative and assimilative capacities are characterized as natural capital, and a failure to maintain these capacities is not sustainable.

Shortly after the emergence of the concept of sustainable development in academic and policy discourse, tourism researchers began referring to the notion of sustainable tourism (May, 1991 ; Nash & Butler, 1990 ), which soon became the dominant paradigm of tourism development. The concept of sustainable tourism, as with the role of tourism in sustainable development, has been interpreted in different ways, and there is a lack of consensus concerning its meaning, objectives, and indicators (Sharpley, 2000 ). Growing interest in the subject inspired the creation of a new academic journal, Journal of Sustainable Tourism , which was launched in 1993 and has become a leading tourism journal. It is described as “an international journal that publishes research on tourism and sustainable development, including economic, social, cultural and political aspects.”

The notion of sustainable tourism development emerged in contrast to mass tourism, which is characterized by the participation of large numbers of people, often provided as structured or packaged tours. Mass tourism has risen sharply in the last half century. International arrivals alone have increased by an average annual rate of more than 25% since 1950 , and many of those trips involved mass tourism activities (Fennell, 2020 ; UNWTO, 2020 ). Some examples of mass tourism include beach resorts, cruise ship tourism, gaming casinos, golf resorts, group tours, ski resorts, theme parks, and wildlife safari tourism, among others. Little data exist regarding the volume of domestic mass tourism, but nevertheless mass tourism activities dominate the global tourism sector. Mass tourism has been shown to generate benefits to host countries, such as income and employment generation, although it has also been associated with economic leakage (where revenue generated by tourism is lost to other countries’ economies) and economic dependency (where developing countries are dependent on wealthier countries for tourists, imports, and foreign investment) (Cater, 1993 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Khan, 1997 ; Peeters, 2012 ). Mass tourism has been associated with numerous negative environmental impacts and social impacts (Cater, 1993 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Fennell, 2020 ; Ghimire, 2013 ; Gursoy et al., 2010 ; Liu, 2003 ; Peeters, 2012 ; Wheeller, 2007 ). Sustainable tourism development has been promoted in various ways as a framing concept in contrast to many of these economic, environmental, and social impacts.

Much of the early research on sustainable tourism focused on defining the concept, which has been the subject of vigorous debate (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ; Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Inskeep, 1991 ; Liu, 2003 ; Sharpley, 2000 ). Early definitions of sustainable tourism development seemed to fall in one of two categories (Sharpley, 2000 ). First, the “tourism-centric” paradigm of sustainable tourism development focuses on sustaining tourism as an economic activity (Hunter, 1995 ). Second, alternative paradigms have situated sustainable tourism in the context of wider sustainable development policies (Butler, 1991 ). One of the most comprehensive definitions of sustainable tourism echoes some of the language of the Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainable development (WCED, 1987 ), emphasizing opportunities for the future while also integrating social and environmental concerns:

Sustainable tourism can be thought of as meeting the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. Sustainable tourism development is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that we can fulfill economic, social and aesthetic needs while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems. (Inskeep, 1991 , p. 461)

Hunter argued that over the short and long terms, sustainable tourism development should

“meet the needs and wants of the local host community in terms of improved living standards and quality of life;

satisfy the demands of tourists and the tourism industry, and continue to attract them in order to meet the first aim; and

safeguard the environmental resource base for tourism, encompassing natural, built and cultural components, in order to achieve both of the preceding aims.” (Hunter, 1995 , p. 156)

Numerous other definitions have been documented, and the term itself has been subject to widespread critique (Buckley, 2012 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Liu, 2003 ). Nevertheless, there have been numerous calls to move beyond debate about a definition and to consider how it may best be implemented in practice (Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Liu, 2003 ). Cater ( 1993 ) identified three key criteria for sustainable tourism: (a) meeting the needs of the host population in terms of improved living standards both in the short and long terms; (b) satisfying the demands of a growing number of tourists; and (c) safeguarding the natural environment in order to achieve both of the preceding aims.

Some literature has acknowledged a vagueness of the concept of sustainable tourism, which has been used to advocate for fundamentally different strategies for tourism development that may exacerbate existing conflicts between conservation and development paradigms (Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Liu, 2003 ; McKercher, 1993b ). Similar criticisms have been leveled at the concept of sustainable development, which has been described as an oxymoron with a wide range of meanings (Adams, 2009 ; Daly, 1990 ) and “defined in such a way as to be either morally repugnant or logically redundant” (Beckerman, 1994 , p. 192). Sharpley ( 2000 ) suggests that in the tourism literature, there has been “a consistent and fundamental failure to build a theoretical link between sustainable tourism and its parental paradigm,” sustainable development (p. 2). Hunter ( 1995 ) suggests that practical measures designed to operationalize sustainable tourism fail to address many of the critical issues that are central to the concept of sustainable development generally and may even actually counteract the fundamental requirements of sustainable development. He suggests that mainstream sustainable tourism development is concerned with protecting the immediate resource base that will sustain tourism development while ignoring concerns for the status of the wider tourism resource base, such as potential problems associated with air pollution, congestion, introduction of invasive species, and declining oil reserves. The dominant paradigm of sustainable tourism development has been described as introverted, tourism-centric, and in competition with other sectors for scarce resources (McKercher, 1993a ). Hunter ( 1995 , p. 156) proposes an alternative, “extraparochial” paradigm where sustainable tourism development is reconceptualized in terms of its contribution to overall sustainable development. Such a paradigm would reconsider the scope, scale, and sectoral context of tourism-related resource utilization issues.

“Sustainability,” “sustainable tourism,” and “sustainable development” are all well-established terms that have often been used loosely and interchangeably in the tourism literature (Liu, 2003 ). Nevertheless, the subject of sustainable tourism has been given considerable attention and has been the focus of numerous academic compilations and textbooks (Coccossis & Nijkamp, 1995 ; Hall & Lew, 1998 ; Stabler, 1997 ; Swarbrooke, 1999 ), and it calls for new approaches to sustainable tourism development (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ; Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Sharpley, 2000 ). The notion of sustainable tourism has been reconceptualized in the literature by several authors who provided alternative frameworks for tourism development (Buckley, 2012 ; Gössling, 2002 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Liu, 2003 ; McKercher, 1993b ; Sharpley, 2000 ).

Early research in sustainable tourism focused on the local environmental impacts of tourism, including energy use, water use, food consumption, and change in land use (Buckley, 2012 ; Butler, 1991 ; Gössling, 2002 ; Hunter & Green, 1995 ). Subsequent research has emphasized the global environmental impacts of tourism, such as greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity losses (Gössling, 2002 ; Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ; Lenzen et al., 2018 ). Additional research has emphasized the impacts of environmental change on tourism itself, including the impacts of climate change on tourist behavior (Gössling et al., 2012 ; Richardson & Loomis, 2004 ; Scott et al., 2012 ; Viner, 2006 ). Countries that are dependent on tourism for economic growth may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (Richardson & Witkoswki, 2010 ).

The early focus on environmental issues in sustainable tourism has been broadened to include economic, social, and cultural issues as well as questions of power and equity in society (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ; Sharpley, 2014 ), and some of these frameworks have integrated notions of social equity, prosperity, and cultural heritage values. Sustainable tourism is dependent on critical long-term considerations of the impacts; notions of equity; an appreciation of the importance of linkages (i.e., economic, social, and environmental); and the facilitation of cooperation and collaboration between different stakeholders (Elliott & Neirotti, 2008 ).

McKercher ( 1993b ) notes that tourism resources are typically part of the public domain or are intrinsically linked to the social fabric of the host community. As a result, many commonplace tourist activities such as sightseeing may be perceived as invasive by members of the host community. Many social impacts of tourism can be linked to the overuse of the resource base, increases in traffic congestion, rising land prices, urban sprawl, and changes in the social structure of host communities. Given the importance of tourist–resident interaction, sustainable tourism development depends in part on the support of the host community (Garau-Vadell et al., 2018 ).

Tourism planning involves the dual objectives of optimizing the well-being of local residents in host communities and minimizing the costs of tourism development (Sharpley, 2014 ). Tourism researchers have paid significant attention to examining the social impacts of tourism in general and to understanding host communities’ perceptions of tourism in particular. Studies of the social impacts of tourism development have examined the perceptions of local residents and the effects of tourism on social cohesion, traditional lifestyles, and the erosion of cultural heritage, particularly among Indigenous Peoples (Butler & Hinch, 2007 ; Deery et al., 2012 ; Mathieson & Wall, 1982 ; Sharpley, 2014 ; Whitford & Ruhanen, 2016 ).

Alternative Tourism and Sustainable Development

A wide body of published research is related to the role of tourism in sustainable development, and much of the literature involves case studies of particular types of tourism. Many such studies contrast types of alternative tourism with those of mass tourism, which has received sustained criticism for decades and is widely considered to be unsustainable (Cater, 1993 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Fennell, 2020 ; Gursoy et al., 2010 ; Liu, 2003 ; Peeters, 2012 ; Zapata et al., 2011 ). Still, some tourism researchers have taken issue with the conclusion that mass tourism is inherently unsustainable (Sharpley, 2000 ; Weaver, 2007 ), and some have argued for developing pathways to “sustainable mass tourism” as “the desired and impending outcome for most destinations” (Weaver, 2012 , p. 1030). In integrating an ethical component to mass tourism development, Weaver ( 2014 , p. 131) suggests that the desirable outcome is “enlightened mass tourism.” Such suggestions have been contested in the literature and criticized for dubious assumptions about emergent norms of sustainability and support for growth, which are widely seen as contradictory (Peeters, 2012 ; Wheeller, 2007 ).

Models of responsible or alternative tourism development include ecotourism, community-based tourism, pro-poor tourism, slow tourism, green tourism, and heritage tourism, among others. Most models of alternative tourism development emphasize themes that aim to counteract the perceived negative impacts of conventional or mass tourism. As such, the objectives of these models of tourism development tend to focus on minimizing environmental impacts, supporting biodiversity conservation, empowering local communities, alleviating poverty, and engendering pleasant relationships between tourists and residents.

Approaches to alternative tourism development tend to overlap with themes of responsible tourism, and the two terms are frequently used interchangeably. Responsible tourism has been characterized in terms of numerous elements, including

ensuring that communities are involved in and benefit from tourism;

respecting local, natural, and cultural environments;

involving the local community in planning and decision-making;

using local resources sustainably;

behaving in ways that are sensitive to the host culture;

maintaining and encouraging natural, economic, and cultural diversity; and

assessing environmental, social, and economic impacts as a prerequisite to tourism development (Spenceley, 2012 ).

Hetzer ( 1965 ) identified four fundamental principles or perquisites for a more responsible form of tourism: (a) minimum environmental impact; (b) minimum impact on and maximum respect for host cultures; (c) maximum economic benefits to the host country; and (d) maximum leisure satisfaction to participating tourists.

The history of ecotourism is closely connected with the emergence of sustainable development, as it was born out of a concern for the conservation of biodiversity. Ecotourism is a form of tourism that aims to minimize local environmental impacts while bringing benefits to protected areas and the people living around those lands (Honey, 2008 ). Ecotourism represents a small segment of nature-based tourism, which is understood as tourism based on the natural attractions of an area, such as scenic areas and wildlife (Gössling, 1999 ). The ecotourism movement gained momentum in the 1990s, primarily in developing countries in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly all countries are now engaged in some form of ecotourism. In some communities, ecotourism is the primary economic activity and source of income and economic development.

The term “ecotourism” was coined by Hector Ceballos-Lascuráin and defined by him as “tourism that consists in travelling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific object of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals” (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1987 , p. 13). In discussing ecotourism resources, he also made reference to “any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas” (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1987 , p. 14). The basic precepts of ecotourism had been discussed long before the actual use of the term. Twenty years earlier, Hetzer ( 1965 ) referred to a form of tourism “based principally upon natural and archaeological resources such as caves, fossil sites (and) archaeological sites.” Thus, both natural resources and cultural resources were integrated into ecotourism frameworks from the earliest manifestations.

Costa Rica is well known for having successfully integrated ecotourism in its overall strategy for sustainable development, and numerous case studies of ecotourism in Costa Rica appear in the literature (Chase et al., 1998 ; Fennell & Eagles, 1990 ; Gray & Campbell, 2007 ; Hearne & Salinas, 2002 ). Ecotourism in Costa Rica has been seen as having supported the economic development of the country while promoting biodiversity conservation in its extensive network of protected areas. Chase et al. ( 1998 ) estimated the demand for ecotourism in a study of differential pricing of entrance fees at national parks in Costa Rica. The authors estimated elasticities associated with the own-price, cross-price, and income variables and found that the elasticities of demand were significantly different between three different national park sites. The results reveal the heterogeneity characterizing tourist behavior and park attractions and amenities. Hearne and Salinas ( 2002 ) used choice experiments to examine the preferences of domestic and foreign tourists in Costa Rica in an ecotourism site. Both sets of tourists demonstrated a preference for improved infrastructure, more information, and lower entrance fees. Foreign tourists demonstrated relatively stronger preferences for the inclusion of restrictions in the access to some trails.

Ecotourism has also been studied extensively in Kenya (Southgate, 2006 ), Malaysia (Lian Chan & Baum, 2007 ), Nepal (Baral et al., 2008 ), Peru (Stronza, 2007 ), and Taiwan (Lai & Nepal, 2006 ), among many other countries. Numerous case studies have demonstrated the potential for ecotourism to contribute to sustainable development by providing support for biodiversity conservation, local livelihoods, and regional development.

Community-Based Tourism

Community-based tourism (CBT) is a model of tourism development that emphasizes the development of local communities and allows for local residents to have substantial control over its development and management, and a major proportion of the benefits remain within the community. CBT emerged during the 1970s as a response to the negative impacts of the international mass tourism development model (Cater, 1993 ; Hall & Lew, 2009 ; Turner & Ash, 1975 ; Zapata et al., 2011 ).

Community-based tourism has been examined for its potential to contribute to poverty reduction. In a study of the viability of the CBT model to support socioeconomic development and poverty alleviation in Nicaragua, tourism was perceived by participants in the study to have an impact on employment creation in their communities (Zapata et al., 2011 ). Tourism was seen to have had positive impacts on strengthening local knowledge and skills, particularly on the integration of women to new roles in the labor market. One of the main perceived gains regarding the environment was the process of raising awareness regarding the conservation of natural resources. The small scale of CBT operations and low capacity to accommodate visitors was seen as a limitation of the model.

Spenceley ( 2012 ) compiled case studies of community-based tourism in countries in southern Africa, including Botswana, Madagascar, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In this volume, authors characterize community-based and nature-based tourism development projects in the region and demonstrate how community participation in planning and decision-making has generated benefits for local residents and supported conservation initiatives. They contend that responsible tourism practices are of particular importance in the region because of the rich biological diversity, abundant charismatic wildlife, and the critical need for local economic development and livelihood strategies.

In Kenya, CBT enterprises were not perceived to have made a significant impact on poverty reduction at an individual household level, in part because the model relied heavily on donor funding, reinforcing dependency and poverty (Manyara & Jones, 2007 ). The study identified several critical success factors for CBT enterprises, namely, awareness and sensitization, community empowerment, effective leadership, and community capacity building, which can inform appropriate tourism policy formulation in Kenya. The impacts of CBT on economic development and poverty reduction would be greatly enhanced if tourism initiatives were able to emphasize independence, address local community priorities, enhance community empowerment and transparency, discourage elitism, promote effective community leadership, and develop community capacity to operate their own enterprises more efficiently.

Pro-Poor Tourism

Pro-poor tourism is a model of tourism development that brings net benefits to people living in poverty (Ashley et al., 2001 ; Harrison, 2008 ). Although its theoretical foundations and development objectives overlap to some degree with those of community-based tourism and other models of AT, the key distinctive feature of pro-poor tourism is that it places poor people and poverty at the top of the agenda. By focusing on a very simple and incontrovertibly moral idea, namely, the net benefits of tourism to impoverished people, the concept has broad appeal to donors and international aid agencies. Harnessing the economic benefits of tourism for pro-poor growth means capitalizing on the advantages while reducing negative impacts to people living in poverty (Ashley et al., 2001 ). Pro-poor approaches to tourism development include increasing access of impoverished people to economic benefits; addressing negative social and environmental impacts associated with tourism; and focusing on policies, processes, and partnerships that seek to remove barriers to participation by people living in poverty. At the local level, pro-poor tourism can play a very significant role in livelihood security and poverty reduction (Ashley & Roe, 2002 ).

Rogerson ( 2011 ) argues that the growth of pro-poor tourism initiatives in South Africa suggests that the country has become a laboratory for the testing and evolution of new approaches toward sustainable development planning that potentially will have relevance for other countries in the developing world. A study of pro-poor tourism development initiatives in Laos identified a number of favorable conditions for pro-poor tourism development, including the fact that local people are open to tourism and motivated to participate (Suntikul et al., 2009 ). The authors also noted a lack of development in the linkages that could optimize the fulfilment of the pro-poor agenda, such as training or facilitation of local people’s participation in pro-poor tourism development at the grassroots level.

Critics of the model have argued that pro-poor tourism is based on an acceptance of the status quo of existing capitalism, that it is morally indiscriminate and theoretically imprecise, and that its practitioners are academically and commercially marginal (Harrison, 2008 ). As Chok et al. ( 2007 ) indicate, the focus “on poor people in the South reflects a strong anthropocentric view . . . and . . . environmental benefits are secondary to poor peoples’” benefits (p. 153).

Harrison ( 2008 ) argues that pro-poor tourism is not a distinctive approach to tourism as a development tool and that it may be easier to discuss what pro-poor tourism is not than what it is. He concludes that it is neither anticapitalist nor inconsistent with mainstream tourism on which it relies; it is neither a theory nor a model and is not a niche form of tourism. Further, he argues that it has no distinctive method and is not only about people living in poverty.

Slow Tourism

The concept of slow tourism has emerged as a model of sustainable tourism development, and as such, it lacks an exact definition. The concept of slow tourism traces its origin back to some institutionalized social movements such as “slow food” and “slow cities” that began in Italy in the 1990s and spread rapidly around the world (Fullagar et al., 2012 ; Oh et al., 2016 , p. 205). Advocates of slow tourism tend to emphasize slowness in terms of speed, mobility, and modes of transportation that generate less environmental pollution. They propose niche marketing for alternative forms of tourism that focus on quality upgrading rather than merely increasing the quantity of visitors via the established mass-tourism infrastructure (Conway & Timms, 2010 ).

In the context of the Caribbean region, slow tourism has been promoted as more culturally sensitive and authentic, as compared to the dominant mass tourism development model that is based on all-inclusive beach resorts dependent on foreign investment (Conway & Timms, 2010 ). Recognizing its value as an alternative marketing strategy, Conway and Timms ( 2010 ) make the case for rebranding alternative tourism in the Caribbean as a means of revitalizing the sector for the changing demands of tourists in the 21st century . They suggest that slow tourism is the antithesis of mass tourism, which “relies on increasing the quantity of tourists who move through the system with little regard to either the quality of the tourists’ experience or the benefits that accrue to the localities the tourist visits” (Conway & Timms, 2010 , p. 332). The authors draw on cases from Barbados, the Grenadines, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago to characterize models of slow tourism development in remote fishing villages and communities near nature preserves and sea turtle nesting sites.

Although there is a growing interest in the concept of slow tourism in the literature, there seems to be little agreement about the exact nature of slow tourism and whether it is a niche form of special interest tourism or whether it represents a more fundamental potential shift across the industry. Conway and Timms ( 2010 ) focus on the destination, advocating for slow tourism in terms of a promotional identity for an industry in need of rebranding. Caffyn ( 2012 , p. 77) discusses the implementation of slow tourism in terms of “encouraging visitors to make slower choices when planning and enjoying their holidays.” It is not clear whether slow tourism is a marketing strategy, a mindset, or a social movement, but the literature on slow tourism nearly always equates the term with sustainable tourism (Caffyn, 2012 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Oh et al., 2016 ). Caffyn ( 2012 , p. 80) suggests that slow tourism could offer a “win–win,” which she describes as “a more sustainable form of tourism; keeping more of the economic benefits within the local community and destination; and delivering a more meaningful and satisfying experience.” Research on slow tourism is nascent, and thus the contribution of slow tourism to sustainable development is not well understood.

Impacts of Tourism Development

The role of tourism in sustainable development can be examined through an understanding of the economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism. Tourism is a global phenomenon that involves travel, recreation, the consumption of food, overnight accommodations, entertainment, sightseeing, and other activities that simultaneously intersect the lives of local residents, businesses, and communities. The impacts of tourism involve benefits and costs to all groups, and some of these impacts cannot easily be measured. Nevertheless, they have been studied extensively in the literature, which provides some context for how these benefits and costs are distributed.

Economic Impacts of Tourism

The travel and tourism sector is one of the largest components of the global economy, and global tourism has increased exponentially since the end of the Second World War (UNWTO, 2020 ). The direct, indirect, and induced economic impact of global travel accounted for 8.9 trillion U.S. dollars in contribution to the global gross domestic product (GDP), or 10.3% of global GDP. The global travel and tourism sector supports approximately 330 million jobs, or 1 in 10 jobs around the world. From an economic perspective, tourism plays a significant role in sustainable development. In many developing countries, tourism has the potential to play a unique role in income generation and distribution relative to many other industries, in part because of its high multiplier effect and consumption of local goods and services. However, research on the economic impacts of tourism has shown that this potential has rarely been fully realized (Liu, 2003 ).

Numerous studies have examined the impact of tourism expenditure on GDP, income, employment, and public sector revenue. Narayan ( 2004 ) used a computable general equilibrium model to estimate the economic impact of tourism growth on the economy of Fiji. Tourism is Fiji’s largest industry, with average annual growth of 10–12%; and as a middle-income country, tourism is critical to Fiji’s economic development. The findings indicate that an increase in tourism expenditures was associated with an increase in GDP, an improvement in the country’s balance of payments, and an increase in real consumption and national welfare. Evidence suggests that the benefits of tourism expansion outweigh any export effects caused by an appreciation of the exchange rate and an increase in domestic prices and wages.

Seetanah ( 2011 ) examined the potential contribution of tourism to economic growth and development using panel data of 19 island economies around the world from 1990 to 2007 and revealed that tourism development is an important factor in explaining economic performance in the selected island economies. The results have policy implications for improving economic growth by harnessing the contribution of the tourism sector. Pratt ( 2015 ) modeled the economic impact of tourism for seven small island developing states in the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean. In most states, the transportation sector was found to have above-average linkages to other sectors of the economy. The results revealed some advantages of economies of scale for maximizing the economic contribution of tourism.

Apergis and Payne ( 2012 ) examined the causal relationship between tourism and economic growth for a panel of nine Caribbean countries. The panel of Caribbean countries includes Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. The authors use a panel error correction model to reveal bidirectional causality between tourism and economic growth in both the short run and the long run. The presence of bidirectional causality reiterates the importance of the tourism sector in the generation of foreign exchange income and in financing the production of goods and services within these countries. Likewise, stable political institutions and adequate government policies to ensure the appropriate investment in physical and human capital will enhance economic growth. In turn, stable economic growth will provide the resources needed to develop the tourism infrastructure for the success of the countries’ tourism sector. Thus, policy makers should be cognizant of the interdependent relationship between tourism and economic growth in the design and implementation of economic policy. The mixed nature of these results suggest that the relationship between tourism and economic growth depends largely on the social and economic context as well as the role of tourism in the economy.

The economic benefits and costs of tourism are frequently distributed unevenly. An analysis of the impact of wildlife conservation policies in Zambia on household welfare found that households located near national parks earn higher levels of income from wage employment and self-employment than other rural households in the country, but they were also more likely to suffer crop losses related to wildlife conflicts (Richardson et al., 2012 ). The findings suggest that tourism development and wildlife conservation can contribute to pro-poor development, but they may be sustainable only if human–wildlife conflicts are minimized or compensated.

Environmental Impacts of Tourism

The environmental impacts of tourism are significant, ranging from local effects to contributions to global environmental change (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). Tourism is both dependent on water resources and a factor in global and local freshwater use. Tourists consume water for drinking, when showering and using the toilet, when participating in activities such as winter ski tourism (i.e., snowmaking), and when using swimming pools and spas. Fresh water is also needed to maintain hotel gardens and golf courses, and water use is embedded in tourism infrastructure development (e.g., accommodations, laundry, dining) and in food and fuel production. Direct water consumption in tourism is estimated to be approximately 350 liters (L) per guest night for accommodation; when indirect water use from food, energy, and transport are considered, total water use in tourism is estimated to be approximately 6,575 L per guest night, or 27,800 L per person per trip (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). In addition, tourism contributes to the pollution of oceans as well as lakes, rivers, and other freshwater systems (Gössling, 2002 ; Gössling et al., 2011 ).

The clearing and conversion of land is central for tourism development, and in many cases, the land used for tourism includes roads, airports, railways, accommodations, trails, pedestrian walks, shopping areas, parking areas, campgrounds, vacation homes, golf courses, marinas, ski resorts, and indirect land use for food production, disposal of solid wastes, and the treatment of wastewater (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). Global land use for accommodation is estimated to be approximately 42 m 2 per bed. Total global land use for tourism is estimated to be nearly 62,000 km 2 , or 11.7 m 2 per tourist; more than half of this estimate is represented by land use for traffic infrastructure.

Tourism and hospitality have direct and indirect links to nearly all aspects of food production, preparation, and consumption because of the quantities of food consumed in tourism contexts (Gössling et al., 2011 ). Food production has significant implications for sustainable development, given the growing global demand for food. The implications include land conversion, losses to biodiversity, changes in nutrient cycling, and contributions to greenhouse emissions that are associated with global climate change (Vitousek et al., 1997 ). Global food use for tourism is estimated to be approximately 39.4 megatons 1 (Mt), about 38% than the amount of food consumed at home. This equates to approximately 1,800 grams (g) of food consumed per tourist per day.

Although tourism has been promoted as a low-impact, nonextractive option for economic development, (Gössling, 2000 ), assessments reveal that such pursuits have a significant carbon footprint, as tourism is significantly more carbon intensive than other potential areas of economic development (Lenzen et al., 2018 ). Tourism is dependent on energy, and virtually all energy use in the tourism sector is derived from fossil fuels, which contribute to global greenhouse emissions that are associated with global climate change. Energy use for tourism has been estimated to be approximately 3,575 megajoules 2 (MJ) per trip, including energy for travel and accommodations (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). A previous estimate of global carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from tourism provided values of 1.12 gigatons 3 (Gt) of CO 2 , amounting to about 3% of global CO 2 -equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). However, these analyses do not cover the supply chains underpinning tourism and do not therefore represent true carbon footprints. A more complete analysis of the emissions from energy consumption necessary to sustain the tourism sector would include food and beverages, infrastructure construction and maintenance, retail, and financial services. Between 2009 and 2013 , tourism’s global carbon footprint is estimated to have increased from 3.9 to 4.5 GtCO 2 e, four times more than previously estimated, accounting for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Lenzen et al., 2018 ). The majority of this footprint is exerted by and within high-income countries. The rising global demand for tourism is outstripping efforts at decarbonization of tourism operations and as a result is accelerating global carbon emissions.

Social Impacts of Tourism

The social impacts of tourism have been widely studied, with an emphasis on residents’ perceptions in the host community (Sharpley, 2014 ). Case studies include research conducted in Australia (Faulkner & Tideswell, 1997 ; Gursoy et al., 2010 ; Tovar & Lockwood, 2008 ), Belize (Diedrich & Garcia-Buades, 2008 ), China (Gu & Ryan, 2008 ), Fiji (King et al., 1993 ), Greece (Haralambopoulos & Pizam, 1996 ; Tsartas, 1992 ), Hungary (Rátz, 2000 ), Thailand (Huttasin, 2008 ), Turkey (Kuvan & Akan, 2005 ), the United Kingdom (Brunt & Courtney, 1999 ; Haley et al., 2005 ), and the United States (Andereck et al., 2005 ; Milman & Pizam, 1988 ), among others. The social impacts of tourism are difficult to measure, and most published studies are mainly concerned with the social impacts on the host communities rather than the impacts on the tourists themselves.

Studies of residents’ perceptions of tourism are typically conducted using household surveys. In most cases, residents recognize the economic dependence on tourism for income, and there is substantial evidence to suggest that working in or owning a business in tourism or a related industry is associated with more positive perceptions of tourism (Andereck et al., 2007 ). The perceived nature of negative effects is complex and often conveys a dislike of crowding, traffic congestion, and higher prices for basic needs (Deery et al., 2012 ). When the number of tourists far exceeds that of the resident population, negative attitudes toward tourism may manifest (Diedrich & Garcia-Buades, 2008 ). However, residents who recognize negative impacts may not necessarily oppose tourism development (King et al., 1993 ).

In some regions, little is known about the social and cultural impacts of tourism despite its dominance as an economic sector. Tourism is a rapidly growing sector in Cuba, and it is projected to grow at rates that exceed the average projected growth rates for the Caribbean and the world overall (Salinas et al., 2018 ). Still, even though there has been rapid tourism development in Cuba, there has been little research related to the environmental and sociocultural impacts of this tourism growth (Rutty & Richardson, 2019 ).

In some international tourism contexts, studies have found that residents are generally resentful toward tourism because it fuels inequality and exacerbates racist attitudes and discrimination (Cabezas, 2004 ; Jamal & Camargo, 2014 ; Mbaiwa, 2005 ). Other studies revealed similar narratives and recorded statements of exclusion and socioeconomic stratification (Sanchez & Adams, 2008 ). Local residents often must navigate the gaps in the racialized, gendered, and sexualized structures imposed by the global tourism industry and host-country governments (Cabezas, 2004 ).

However, during times of economic crisis, residents may develop a more permissive view as their perceptions of the costs of tourism development decrease (Garau-Vadell et al., 2018 ). This increased positive attitude is not based on an increase in the perception of positive impacts of tourism, but rather on a decrease in the perception of the negative impacts.

There is a growing body of research on Indigenous and Aboriginal tourism that emphasizes justice issues such as human rights and self-empowerment, control, and participation of traditional owners in comanagement of destinations (Jamal & Camargo, 2014 ; Ryan & Huyton, 2000 ; Whyte, 2010 ).

Sustainability of Tourism

A process or system is said to be sustainable to the extent that it is robust, resilient, and adaptive (Anderies et al., 2013 ). By most measures, the global tourism system does not meet these criteria for sustainability. Tourism is not robust in that it cannot resist threats and perturbations, such as economic shocks, public health pandemics, war, and other disruptions. Tourism is not resilient in that it does not easily recover from failures, such as natural disasters or civil unrest. Furthermore, tourism is not adaptive in that it is often unable to change in response to external conditions. One example that underscores the failure to meet all three criteria is the dependence of tourism on fossil fuels for transportation and energy, which are key inputs for tourism development. This dependence itself is not sustainable (Wheeller, 2007 ), and thus the sustainability of tourism is questionable.

Liu ( 2003 ) notes that research related to the role of tourism in sustainable development has emphasized supply-side concepts such as sustaining tourism resources and ignored the demand side, which is particularly vulnerable to social and economic shocks. Tourism is vulnerable to both localized and global shocks. Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to localized shocks include disaster vulnerability in coastal Thailand (Calgaro & Lloyd, 2008 ), bushfires in northeast Victoria in Australia (Cioccio & Michael, 2007 ), forest fires in British Columbia, Canada (Hystad & Keller, 2008 ); and outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom (Miller & Ritchie, 2003 ).

Like most other economic sectors, tourism is vulnerable to the impacts of earthquakes, particularly in areas where tourism infrastructure may not be resilient to such shocks. Numerous studies have examined the impacts of earthquake events on tourism, including studies of the aftermath of the 1997 earthquake in central Italy (Mazzocchi & Montini, 2001 ), the 1999 earthquake in Taiwan (Huan et al., 2004 ; Huang & Min, 2002 ), and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in western Sichuan, China (Yang et al., 2011 ), among others.

Tourism is vulnerable to extreme weather events. Regional economic strength has been found to be associated with lower vulnerability to natural disasters. Kim and Marcoullier ( 2015 ) examined the vulnerability and resilience of 10 tourism-based regional economies that included U.S. national parks or protected seashores situated on the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean coastline that were affected by several hurricanes over a 26-year period. Regions with stronger economic characteristics prior to natural disasters were found to have lower disaster losses than regions with weaker economies.

Tourism is extremely sensitive to oil spills, whatever their origin, and the volume of oil released need not be large to generate significant economic losses (Cirer-Costa, 2015 ). Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to the localized shock of an oil spill include research on the impacts of oil spills in Alaska (Coddington, 2015 ), Brazil (Ribeiro et al., 2020 ), Spain (Castanedo et al., 2009 ), affected regions in the United States along the Gulf of Mexico (Pennington-Gray et al., 2011 ; Ritchie et al., 2013 ), and the Republic of Korea (Cheong, 2012 ), among others. Future research on the vulnerability of tourist destinations to oil spills should also incorporate freshwater environments, such as lakes, rivers, and streams, where the rupture of oil pipelines is more frequent.

Significant attention has been paid to assessing the vulnerability of tourist destinations to acts of terrorism and the impacts of terrorist attacks on regional tourist economies (Liu & Pratt, 2017 ). Such studies include analyses of the impacts of terrorist attacks on three European countries, Greece, Italy, and Austria (Enders et al., 1992 ); the impact of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States (Goodrich, 2002 ); terrorism and tourism in Nepal (Bhattarai et al., 2005 ); vulnerability of tourism livelihoods in Bali (Baker & Coulter, 2007 ); the impact of terrorism on tourist preferences for destinations in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands (Arana & León, 2008 ); the 2011 massacres in Olso and Utøya, Norway (Wolff & Larsen, 2014 ); terrorism and political violence in Tunisia (Lanouar & Goaied, 2019 ); and the impact of terrorism on European tourism (Corbet et al., 2019 ), among others. Pizam and Fleischer ( 2002 ) studied the impact of acts of terrorism on tourism demand in Israel between May 1991 and May 2001 , and they confirmed that the frequency of acts of terrorism had caused a larger decline in international tourist arrivals than the severity of these acts. Most of these are ex post studies, and future assessments of the underlying conditions of destinations could reveal a deeper understanding of the vulnerability of tourism to terrorism.

Tourism is vulnerable to economic crisis, both local economic shocks (Okumus & Karamustafa, 2005 ; Stylidis & Terzidou, 2014 ) and global economic crisis (Papatheodorou et al., 2010 ; Smeral, 2010 ). Okumus and Karamustafa ( 2005 ) evaluated the impact of the February 2001 economic crisis in Turkey on tourism, and they found that the tourism industry was poorly prepared for the economic crisis despite having suffered previous impacts related to the Gulf War in the early 1990s, terrorism in Turkey in the 1990s, the civil war in former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, an internal economic crisis in 1994 , and two earthquakes in the northwest region of Turkey in 1999 . In a study of the attitudes and perceptions of citizens of Greece, Stylidis and Terzidou ( 2014 ) found that economic crisis is associated with increased support for tourism development, particularly out of self-interest. Economic crisis diminishes residents’ concern for environmental issues. In a study of the behavior of European tourists amid an economic crisis, Eugenio-Martin and Campos-Soria ( 2014 ) found that the probability of households cutting back on travel expenditures depends largely on the climate and economic conditions of tourists’ home countries, and households that do reduce travel spending engage in tourism closer to home.

Becken and Lennox ( 2012 ) studied the implications of a long-term increase in oil prices for tourism in New Zealand, and they estimate that a doubling of oil prices is associated with a 1.7% decrease in real gross national disposable income and a 9% reduction in the real value of tourism exports. Chatziantoniou et al. ( 2013 ) investigated the relationship among oil price shocks, tourism variables, and economic indicators in four European Mediterranean countries and found that aggregate demand oil price shocks generated a lagged effect on tourism-generated income and economic growth. Kisswani et al. ( 2020 ) examined the asymmetric effect of oil prices on tourism receipts and the sensitive susceptibility of tourism to oil price changes using nonlinear analysis. The findings document a long-run asymmetrical effect for most countries, after incorporating the structural breaks, suggesting that governments and tourism businesses and organizations should interpret oil price fluctuations cautiously.

Finally, the sustainability of tourism has been shown to be vulnerable to the outbreak of infectious diseases, including the impact of the Ebola virus on tourism in sub-Saharan Africa (Maphanga & Henama, 2019 ; Novelli et al., 2018 ) and in the United States (Cahyanto et al., 2016 ). The literature also includes studies of the impact of swine flu on tourism demand in Brunei (Haque & Haque, 2018 ), Mexico (Monterrubio, 2010 ), and the United Kingdom (Page et al., 2012 ), among others. In addition, rapid assessments of the impacts of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 have documented severe disruptions and cessations of tourism because of unprecedented global travel restrictions and widespread restrictions on public gatherings (Gössling et al., 2020 ; Qiu et al., 2020 ; Sharma & Nicolau, 2020 ). Hotels, airlines, cruise lines, and car rentals have all experienced a significant decrease globally because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shock to the industry is significant enough to warrant concerns about the long-term outlook (Sharma & Nicolau, 2020 ). Qiu et al. ( 2020 ) estimated the social costs of the pandemic to tourism in three cities in China (Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Wuhan), and they found that most respondents were willing to pay for risk reduction and action in responding to the pandemic crisis; there was no significant difference between residents’ willingness to pay in the three cities. Some research has emphasized how lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic can prepare global tourism for an economic transformation that is needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change (Brouder, 2020 ; Prideaux et al., 2020 ).

It is clear that tourism has contributed significantly to economic development globally, but its role in sustainable development is uncertain, contested, and potentially paradoxical. This is due, in part, to the contested nature of sustainable development itself. Tourism has been promoted as a low-impact, nonextractive option for economic development, particularly for developing countries (Gössling, 2000 ), and many countries have managed to increase their participation in the global economy through development of international tourism. Tourism development has been viewed as an important sector for investment to enhance economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food security, and the sector provides an alternative opportunity to large-scale development projects and extractive industries that contribute to emissions of pollutants and threaten biodiversity and cultural values. However, global evidence from research on the economic impacts of tourism has shown that this potential has rarely been realized (Liu, 2003 ).

The role of tourism in sustainable development has been studied extensively and with a variety of perspectives, including the conceptualization of alternative or responsible forms of tourism and the examination of economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism development. The research has generally concluded that tourism development has contributed to sustainable development in some cases where it is demonstrated to have provided support for biodiversity conservation initiatives and livelihood development strategies. As an economic sector, tourism is considered to be labor intensive, providing opportunities for poor households to enhance their livelihood through the sale of goods and services to foreign tourists.

Nature-based tourism approaches such as ecotourism and community-based tourism have been successful at attracting tourists to parks and protected areas, and their spending provides financial support for biodiversity conservation, livelihoods, and economic growth in developing countries. Nevertheless, studies of the impacts of tourism development have documented negative environmental impacts locally in terms of land use, food and water consumption, and congestion, and globally in terms of the contribution of tourism to climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases related to transportation and other tourist activities. Studies of the social impacts of tourism have documented experiences of discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, race, sex, and national identity.

The sustainability of tourism as an economic sector has been examined in terms of its vulnerability to civil conflict, economic shocks, natural disasters, and public health pandemics. Most studies conclude that tourism may have positive impacts for regional development and environmental conservation, but there is evidence that tourism inherently generates negative environmental impacts, primarily through pollutions stemming from transportation. The regional benefits of tourism development must be considered alongside the global impacts of increased transportation and tourism participation. Global tourism has also been shown to be vulnerable to economic crises, oil price shocks, and global outbreaks of infectious diseases. Given that tourism is dependent on energy, the movement of people, and the consumption of resources, virtually all tourism activities have significant economic, environmental, and sustainable impacts. As such, the role of tourism in sustainable development is highly questionable. Future research on the role of tourism in sustainable development should focus on reducing the negative impacts of tourism development, both regionally and globally.

Further Reading

• Bramwell, B. , & Lane, B. (1993). Sustainable tourism: An evolving global approach. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 1 (1), 1–5.
• Buckley, R. (2012). Sustainable tourism: Research and reality. Annals of Tourism Research , 39 (2), 528–546.
• Butler, R. W. (1991). Tourism, environment, and sustainable development. Environmental Conservation , 18 (3), 201–209.
• Butler, R. W. (1999). Sustainable tourism: A state‐of‐the‐art review. Tourism Geographies , 1 (1), 7–25.
• Clarke, J. (1997). A framework of approaches to sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 5 (3), 224–233.
• Fennell, D. A. (2020). Ecotourism (5th ed.). Routledge.
• Gössling, S. (2002). Global environmental consequences of tourism. Global Environmental Change , 12 (4), 283–302.
• Honey, M. (2008). Ecotourism and sustainable development: Who owns paradise? (2nd ed.). Island Press.
• Inskeep, E. (1991). Tourism planning: An integrated and sustainable development approach . Routledge.
• Jamal, T. , & Camargo, B. A. (2014). Sustainable tourism, justice and an ethic of care: Toward the just destination. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 22 (1), 11–30.
• Liburd, J. J. , & Edwards, D. (Eds.). (2010). Understanding the sustainable development of tourism . Oxford.
• Liu, Z. (2003). Sustainable tourism development: A critique. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 11 (6), 459–475.
• Sharpley, R. (2020). Tourism, sustainable development and the theoretical divide: 20 years on. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 28 (11), 1932–1946.
• Adams, W. M. (2009). Green development: Environment and sustainability in a developing world (3rd ed.). Routledge.
• Andereck, K. L. , Valentine, K. M. , Knopf, R. A. , & Vogt, C. A. (2005). Residents’ perceptions of community tourism impacts. Annals of Tourism Research , 32 (4), 1056–1076.
• Andereck, K. , Valentine, K. , Vogt, C. , & Knopf, R. (2007). A cross-cultural analysis of tourism and quality of life perceptions. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 15 (5), 483–502.
• Anderies, J. M. , Folke, C. , Walker, B. , & Ostrom, E. (2013). Aligning key concepts for global change policy: Robustness, resilience, and sustainability . Ecology and Society , 18 (2), 8.
• Apergis, N. , & Payne, J. E. (2012). Tourism and growth in the Caribbean–evidence from a panel error correction model. Tourism Economics , 18 (2), 449–456.
• Arana, J. E. , & León, C. J. (2008). The impact of terrorism on tourism demand. Annals of Tourism Research , 35 (2), 299–315.
• Ashley, C. , & Roe, D. (2002). Making tourism work for the poor: Strategies and challenges in southern Africa. Development Southern Africa , 19 (1), 61–82.
• Ashley, C. , Roe, D. , & Goodwin, H. (2001). Pro-poor tourism strategies: Making tourism work for the poor: A review of experience (No. 1). Overseas Development Institute.
• Baker, K. , & Coulter, A. (2007). Terrorism and tourism: The vulnerability of beach vendors’ livelihoods in Bali. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 15 (3), 249–266.
• Baral, N. , Stern, M. J. , & Bhattarai, R. (2008). Contingent valuation of ecotourism in Annapurna conservation area, Nepal: Implications for sustainable park finance and local development. Ecological Economics , 66 (2–3), 218–227.
• Becken, S. , & Lennox, J. (2012). Implications of a long-term increase in oil prices for tourism. Tourism Management , 33 (1), 133–142.
• Beckerman, W. (1994). “Sustainable development”: Is it a useful concept? Environmental Values , 3 (3), 191–209.
• Bhattarai, K. , Conway, D. , & Shrestha, N. (2005). Tourism, terrorism and turmoil in Nepal. Annals of Tourism Research , 32 (3), 669–688.
• Blewitt, J. (2015). Understanding sustainable development (2nd ed.). Routledge.
• Brouder, P. (2020). Reset redux: Possible evolutionary pathways towards the transformation of tourism in a COVID-19 world. Tourism Geographies , 22 (3), 484–490.
• Brunt, P. , & Courtney, P. (1999). Host perceptions of sociocultural impacts. Annals of Tourism Research , 26 (3), 493–515.
• Buckley, R. (2011). Tourism and environment. Annual Review of Environment and Resources , 36 , 397–416.
• Butler, R. W. (1980). The concept of a tourist area cycle of evolution: Implications for management of resources. Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien , 24 (1), 5–12.
• Butler, R. , & Hinch, T. (Eds.). (2007). Tourism and indigenous peoples: Issues and implications . Routledge.
• Cabezas, A. L. (2004). Between love and money: Sex, tourism, and citizenship in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society , 29 (4), 987–1015.
• Caffyn, A. (2012). Advocating and implementing slow tourism. Tourism Recreation Research , 37 (1), 77–80.
• Cahyanto, I. , Wiblishauser, M. , Pennington-Gray, L. , & Schroeder, A. (2016). The dynamics of travel avoidance: The case of Ebola in the US. Tourism Management Perspectives , 20 , 195–203.
• Calgaro, E. , & Lloyd, K. (2008). Sun, sea, sand and tsunami: Examining disaster vulnerability in the tourism community of Khao Lak, Thailand. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography , 29 (3), 288–306.
• Castanedo, S. , Juanes, J. A. , Medina, R. , Puente, A. , Fernandez, F. , Olabarrieta, M. , & Pombo, C. (2009). Oil spill vulnerability assessment integrating physical, biological and socio-economical aspects: Application to the Cantabrian coast (Bay of Biscay, Spain). Journal of Environmental Management , 91 (1), 149–159.
• Cater, E. (1993). Ecotourism in the Third World: Problems for sustainable tourism development. Tourism Management , 14 (2), 85–90.
• Ceballos-Lascuráin, H. (1987, January). The future of “ecotourism.” Mexico Journal , 17 , 13–14.
• Chase, L. C. , Lee, D. R. , Schulze, W. D. , & Anderson, D. J. (1998). Ecotourism demand and differential pricing of national park access in Costa Rica. Land Economics , 74 (4), 466–482.
• Chatziantoniou, I. , Filis, G. , Eeckels, B. , & Apostolakis, A. (2013). Oil prices, tourism income and economic growth: A structural VAR approach for European Mediterranean countries. Tourism Management , 36 (C), 331–341.
• Cheong, S. M. (2012). Fishing and tourism impacts in the aftermath of the Hebei-Spirit oil spill. Journal of Coastal Research , 28 (6), 1648–1653.
• Chok, S. , Macbeth, J. , & Warren, C. (2007). Tourism as a tool for poverty alleviation: A critical analysis of “pro-poor tourism” and implications for sustainability. Current Issues in Tourism , 10 (2–3), 144–165.
• Cioccio, L. , & Michael, E. J. (2007). Hazard or disaster: Tourism management for the inevitable in Northeast Victoria. Tourism Management , 28 (1), 1–11.
• Cirer-Costa, J. C. (2015). Tourism and its hypersensitivity to oil spills. Marine Pollution Bulletin , 91 (1), 65–72.
• Coccossis, H. , & Nijkamp, P. (1995). Sustainable tourism development . Ashgate.
• Coddington, K. (2015). The “entrepreneurial spirit”: Exxon Valdez and nature tourism development in Seward, Alaska. Tourism Geographies , 17 (3), 482–497.
• Cohen, E. (1978). The impact of tourism on the physical environment. Annals of Tourism Research , 5 (2), 215–237.
• Conway, D. , & Timms, B. F. (2010). Re-branding alternative tourism in the Caribbean: The case for “slow tourism.” Tourism and Hospitality Research , 10 (4), 329–344.
• Corbet, S. , O’Connell, J. F. , Efthymiou, M. , Guiomard, C. , & Lucey, B. (2019). The impact of terrorism on European tourism. Annals of Tourism Research , 75 , 1–17.
• Daly, H. E. (1990). Toward some operational principles of sustainable development. Ecological Economics , 2 (1), 1–6.
• Deery, M. , Jago, L. , & Fredline, L. (2012). Rethinking social impacts of tourism research: A new research agenda. Tourism Management , 33 (1), 64–73.
• Diedrich, A. , & Garcia-Buades, E. (2008). Local perceptions of tourism as indicators of destination decline. Tourism Management , 41 , 623–632.
• Durbarry, R. (2004). Tourism and economic growth: The case of Mauritius. Tourism Economics , 10 , 389–401.
• Elliott, S. M. , & Neirotti, L. D. (2008). Challenges of tourism in a dynamic island destination: The case of Cuba. Tourism Geographies , 10 (4), 375–402.
• Enders, W. , Sandler, T. , & Parise, G. F. (1992). An econometric analysis of the impact of terrorism on tourism. Kyklos , 45 (4), 531–554.
• Eugenio-Martin, J. L. , & Campos-Soria, J. A. (2014). Economic crisis and tourism expenditure cutback decision. Annals of Tourism Research , 44 , 53–73.
• Farrell, B. , & McLellan, R. (1987). Tourism and physical environment research. Annals of Tourism Research , 14 (1), 1–16.
• Faulkner, B. , & Tideswell, C. (1997). A framework for monitoring community impacts of tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 5 (1), 3–28.
• Fennell, D. A. , & Eagles, P. F. (1990). Ecotourism in Costa Rica: A conceptual framework. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration , 8 (1), 23–34.
• Fullagar, S. , Markwell, K. , & Wilson, E. (Eds.). (2012). Slow tourism: Experiences and mobilities . Channel View.
• Garau-Vadell, J. B. , Gutierrez-Taño, D. , & Diaz-Armas, R. (2018). Economic crisis and residents’ perception of the impacts of tourism in mass tourism destinations. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management , 7 , 68–75.
• Garrod, B. , & Fyall, A. (1998). Beyond the rhetoric of sustainable tourism? Tourism Management , 19 (3), 199–212.
• Ghimire, K. B. (Ed.). (2013). The native tourist: Mass tourism within developing countries . Routledge.
• Goodrich, J. N. (2002). September 11, 2001 attack on America: A record of the immediate impacts and reactions in the USA travel and tourism industry. Tourism Management , 23 (6), 573–580.
• Gössling, S. (1999). Ecotourism: A means to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem functions? Ecological Economics , 29 , 303–320.
• Gössling, S. (2000). Tourism–sustainable development option? Environmental Conservation , 27 (3), 223–224.
• Gössling, S. (2002). Global environmental consequences of tourism. Global Environmental Change , 12 , 283–302.
• Gössling, S. , & Peeters, P. (2015). Assessing tourism’s global environmental impact 1900–2050. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 23 (5), 639–659.
• Gössling, S. , Peeters, P. , Hall, C. M. , Ceron, J.‑P. , Dubois, G. , Lehman, L. V. , & Scott, D. (2011). Tourism and water use: Supply, demand and security, and international review. Tourism Management , 33 (1), 16–28.
• Gössling, S. , Scott, D. , & Hall, C. M. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 29 (1), 1–20.
• Gössling, S. , Scott, D. , Hall, C. M. , Ceron, J. P. , & Dubois, G. (2012). Consumer behaviour and demand response of tourists to climate change. Annals of Tourism Research , 39 (1), 36–58.
• Gray, N. J. , & Campbell, L. M. (2007). A decommodified experience? Exploring aesthetic, economic and ethical values for volunteer ecotourism in Costa Rica. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 15 (5), 463–482.
• Grober, U. (2007). Deep roots—a conceptual history of “sustainable development” (Nachhaltigkeit) . Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung.
• Gu, H. , & Ryan, C. (2008). Place attachment, identity and community impacts of tourism—the case of a Beijing hutong. Tourism Management , 29 (4), 637–647.
• Gursoy, D. , Chi, C. G. , & Dyer, P. (2010). Locals’ attitudes toward mass and alternative tourism: The case of Sunshine Coast, Australia. Journal of Travel Research , 49 (3), 381–394.
• Haley, A. J. , Snaith, T. , & Miller, G. (2005). The social impacts of tourism a case study of Bath, UK. Annals of Tourism Research , 32 (3), 647–668.
• Hall, C. M. , & Lew, A. A. (2009). Understanding and managing tourism impacts: An integrated approach . Routledge.
• Hall, C. M. , & Lew, A. A. (Eds.). (1998). Sustainable tourism: A geographical perspective . Longman.
• Haque, T. H. , & Haque, M. O. (2018). The swine flu and its impacts on tourism in Brunei. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management , 36 , 92–101.
• Haralambopoulos, N. , & Pizam, A. (1996). Perceived impacts of tourism: The case of Samos. Annals of Tourism Research , 23 (3), 503–526.
• Harrison, D. (2008). Pro-poor tourism: A critique. Third World Quarterly , 29 (5), 851–868.
• Hearne, R. R. , & Salinas, Z. M. (2002). The use of choice experiments in the analysis of tourist preferences for ecotourism development in Costa Rica. Journal of Environmental Management , 65 (2), 153–163.
• Hetzer, N. D. (1965). Environment, tourism, culture. Links , 1 (2), 1–3.
• Höhler, S. (2015). Spaceship earth in the environmental age, 1960–1990 . Routledge.
• Honey, M. , & Gilpin, R. (2009). Tourism in the developing world: Promoting peace and reducing poverty . United States Institute for Peace.
• Huan, T. C. , Beaman, J. , & Shelby, L. (2004). No-escape natural disaster: Mitigating impacts on tourism. Annals of Tourism Research , 31 (2), 255–273.
• Huang, J. H. , & Min, J. C. (2002). Earthquake devastation and recovery in tourism: The Taiwan case. Tourism Management , 23 (2), 145–154.
• Hunter, C. (1995). On the need to re-conceptualise sustainable tourism development. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 3 (3), 155–165.
• Hunter, C. , & Green, H. (1995). Tourism and the environment. A sustainable relationship? Routledge.
• Huttasin, N. (2008). Perceived social impacts of tourism by residents in the OTOP tourism village, Thailand. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research , 13 (2), 175–191.
• Hystad, P. W. , & Keller, P. C. (2008). Towards a destination tourism disaster management framework: Long-term lessons from a forest fire disaster. Tourism Management , 29 (1), 151–162.
• Katircioglu, S. (2009). Tourism, trade and growth: The case of Cyprus. Applied Economics , 41 (21), 2741–2750.
• Katircioglu, S. (2010). Testing the tourism-led growth hypothesis for Singapore: An empirical investigation from bounds test to cointegration and Granger causality tests. Tourism Economics , 16 (4), 1095–1101.
• Khan, M. M. (1997). Tourism development and dependency theory: Mass tourism vs. ecotourism. Annals of Tourism Research , 24 (4), 988–991.
• Kim, H. , & Marcouiller, D. W. (2015). Considering disaster vulnerability and resiliency: The case of hurricane effects on tourism-based economies. The Annals of Regional Science , 54 (3), 945–971.
• King, B. , Pizam, A. , & Milman, A. (1993). Social impacts of tourism: Host perceptions. Annals of Tourism Research , 20 (4), 650–665.
• Kisswani, K. M. , Zaitouni, M. , & Moufakkir, O. (2020). An examination of the asymmetric effect of oil prices on tourism receipts. Current Issues in Tourism , 23 (4), 500–522.
• Kuvan, Y. , & Akan, P. (2005). Residents’ attitudes toward general and forest-related impacts of tourism: The case of Belek, Antalya. Tourism Management , 26 (5), 691–706.
• Lai, P. H. , & Nepal, S. K. (2006). Local perspectives of ecotourism development in Tawushan Nature Reserve, Taiwan. Tourism Management , 27 (6), 1117–1129.
• Lanouar, C. , & Goaied, M. (2019). Tourism, terrorism and political violence in Tunisia: Evidence from Markov-switching models. Tourism Management , 70 , 404–418.
• Lee, C. C. , & Chang, C. P. (2008). Tourism development and economic growth: A closer look at panels. Tourism Management , 29 , 180–192.
• Lenzen, M. , Sun, Y. Y. , Faturay, F. , Ting, Y. P. , Geschke, A. , & Malik, A. (2018). The carbon footprint of global tourism. Nature Climate Change , 8 (6), 522–528.
• Lian Chan, J. K. , & Baum, T. (2007). Ecotourists’ perception of ecotourism experience in lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 15 (5), 574–590.
• Liu, A. , & Pratt, S. (2017). Tourism’s vulnerability and resilience to terrorism. Tourism Management , 60 , 404–417.
• Manyara, G. , & Jones, E. (2007). Community-based tourism enterprises development in Kenya: An exploration of their potential as avenues of poverty reduction. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 15 (6), 628–644.
• Maphanga, P. M. , & Henama, U. S. (2019). The tourism impact of Ebola in Africa: Lessons on crisis management. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure , 8 (3), 1–13.
• Mathieson, A. , & Wall, G. (1982). Tourism, economic, physical and social impacts . Longman.
• May, V. (1991). Tourism, environment and development—values, sustainability and stewardship. Tourism Management , 12 (2), 112–124.
• Mazzocchi, M. , & Montini, A. (2001). Earthquake effects on tourism in central Italy. Annals of Tourism Research , 28 (4), 1031–1046.
• Mbaiwa, J. E. (2005). The socio-cultural impacts of tourism development in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change , 2 (3), 163–185.
• McKercher, B. (1993a). Some fundamental truths about tourism: Understanding tourism’s social and environmental impacts, Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 1 (1), 6–16.
• McKercher, B. (1993b). The unrecognized threat to tourism: Can tourism survive “sustainability”? Tourism Management , 14 (2), 131–136.
• Meadows, D. H. , Meadows, D. L. , Randers, J. , & Behrens, W. W. (1972). The limits to growth . Universe Books.
• Miller, G. A. , & Ritchie, B. W. (2003). A farming crisis or a tourism disaster? An analysis of the foot and mouth disease in the UK. Current Issues in Tourism , 6 (2), 150–171.
• Milman, A. , & Pizam, A. (1988). Social impacts of tourism on central Florida. Annals of Tourism Research , 15 (2), 191–204.
• Monterrubio, J. C. (2010). Short-term economic impacts of influenza A (H1N1) and government reaction on the Mexican tourism industry: An analysis of the media. International Journal of Tourism Policy , 3 (1), 1–15.
• Narayan, P. K. (2004). Economic impact of tourism on Fiji’s economy: Empirical evidence from the computable general equilibrium model. Tourism Economics , 10 (4), 419–433.
• Nash, D. , & Butler, R. (1990). Towards sustainable tourism. Tourism Management , 11 (3), 263–264.
• Novelli, M. , Burgess, L. G. , Jones, A. , & Ritchie, B. W. (2018). “No Ebola . . . still doomed”—the Ebola-induced tourism crisis. Annals of Tourism Research , 70 , 76–87.
• Oh, C. (2005). The contribution of tourism development to economic growth in the Korean economy. Tourism Management , 26 , 39–44.
• Oh, H. , Assaf, A. G. , & Baloglu, S. (2016). Motivations and goals of slow tourism. Journal of Travel Research , 55 (2), 205–219.
• Okumus, F. , & Karamustafa, K. (2005). Impact of an economic crisis evidence from Turkey. Annals of Tourism Research , 32 (4), 942–961.
• Page, S. , Song, H. , & Wu, D. C. (2012). Assessing the impacts of the global economic crisis and swine flu on inbound tourism demand in the United Kingdom. Journal of Travel Research , 51 (2), 142–153.
• Papatheodorou, A. , Rosselló, J. , & Xiao, H. (2010). Global economic crisis and tourism: Consequences and perspectives. Journal of Travel Research , 49 (1), 39–45.
• Peeters, P. (2012). A clear path towards sustainable mass tourism? Rejoinder to the paper “Organic, incremental and induced paths to sustainable mass tourism convergence” by David B. Weaver. Tourism Management , 33 (5), 1038–1041.
• Pennington-Gray, L. , London, B. , Cahyanto, I. , & Klages, W. (2011). Expanding the tourism crisis management planning framework to include social media: Lessons from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 2010. International Journal of Tourism Anthropology , 1 (3–4), 239–253.
• Pizam, A. , & Fleischer, A. (2002). Severity versus frequency of acts of terrorism: Which has a larger impact on tourism demand? Journal of Travel Research , 40 (3), 337–339.
• Pratt, S. (2015). The economic impact of tourism in SIDS. Annals of Tourism Research , 52 , 148–160.
• Prideaux, B. , Thompson, M. , & Pabel, A. (2020). Lessons from COVID-19 can prepare global tourism for the economic transformation needed to combat climate change. Tourism Geographies , 22 (3), 667–678.
• Qiu, R. T. , Park, J. , Li, S. , & Song, H. (2020). Social costs of tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic . Annals of Tourism Research , 84 , 102994.
• Rátz, T. (2000). Residents’ perceptions of the socio-cultural impacts of tourism at Lake Balaton, Hungary. Tourism and Sustainable Community Development , 7 , 36.
• Ribeiro, L. C. D. S. , Souza, K. B. D. , Domingues, E. P. , & Magalhães, A. S. (2020). Blue water turns black: Economic impact of oil spill on tourism and fishing in Brazilian Northeast . Current Issues in Tourism , 1–6.
• Richardson, R. B. , Fernandez, A. , Tschirley, D. , & Tembo, G. (2012). Wildlife conservation in Zambia: Impacts on rural household welfare. World Development , 40 (5), 1068–1081.
• Richardson, R. B. , & Loomis, J. B. (2004). Adaptive recreation planning and climate change: A contingent visitation approach. Ecological Economics , 50 (1), 83–99.
• Richardson, R. B. , & Witkowski, K. (2010). Economic vulnerability to climate change for tourism-dependent nations. Tourism Analysis , 15 (3), 315–330.
• Ritchie, B. W. , Crotts, J. C. , Zehrer, A. , & Volsky, G. T. (2013). Understanding the effects of a tourism crisis: The impact of the BP oil spill on regional lodging demand. Journal of Travel Research , 53 (1), 12–25.
• Rogerson, C. M. (2011). Urban tourism and regional tourists: Shopping in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie , 102 (3), 316–330.
• Rutty, M. , & Richardson, R. (2019). Tourism research in Cuba: Gaps in knowledge and challenges for sustainable tourism. Sustainability , 11 (12), 3340–3346.
• Ryan, C. , & Huyton, J. (2000). Who is interested in Aboriginal tourism in the Northern Territory, Australia? A cluster analysis. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 8 (1), 53–88.
• Salinas, E. , Mundet, L. , & Salinas, E. (2018). Historical evolution and spatial development of tourism in Cuba, 1919–2017: What is next? Tourism Planning & Development , 15 (3), 216–238.
• Sanchez, P. M. , & Adams, K. M. (2008). The Janus-faced character of tourism in Cuba. Annals of Tourism Research , 35 , 27–46.
• Scott, D. , Hall, C. M. , & Gössling, S. (2012). Tourism and climate change: Impacts, adaptation and mitigation . Routledge.
• Seetanah, B. (2011). Assessing the dynamic economic impact of tourism for island economies. Annals of Tourism Research , 38 (1), 291–308.
• Sharma, A. , & Nicolau, J. L. (2020). An open market valuation of the effects of COVID-19 on the travel and tourism industry . Annals of Tourism Research , 83 , 102990.
• Sharpley, R. (2000). Tourism and sustainable development: Exploring the theoretical divide. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 8 (1), 1–19.
• Sharpley, R. (2014). Host perceptions of tourism: A review of the research. Tourism Management , 42 , 37–49.
• Smeral, E. (2010). Impacts of the world recession and economic crisis on tourism: Forecasts and potential risks. Journal of Travel Research , 49 (1), 31–38.
• Southgate, C. R. (2006). Ecotourism in Kenya: The vulnerability of communities. Journal of Ecotourism , 5 (1–2), 80–96.
• Spenceley, A. (Ed.). (2012). Responsible tourism: Critical issues for conservation and development . Routledge.
• Stabler, M. (Ed.). (1997). Tourism and sustainability: Principles to practice . Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International.
• Stronza, A. (2007). The economic promise of ecotourism for conservation. Journal of Ecotourism , 6 (3), 210–230.
• Stylidis, D. , & Terzidou, M. (2014). Tourism and the economic crisis in Kavala, Greece. Annals of Tourism Research , 44 , 210–226.
• Suntikul, W. , Bauer, T. , & Song, H. (2009). Pro-poor tourism development in Viengxay, Laos: Current state and future prospects. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research , 14 (2), 153–168.
• Swarbrooke, J. (1999). Sustainable tourism management . CABI.
• Tovar, C. , & Lockwood, M. (2008). Social impacts of tourism: An Australian regional case study. International Journal of Tourism Research , 10 (4), 365–378.
• Tsartas, P. (1992). Socioeconomic impacts of tourism on two Greek isles. Annals of Tourism Research , 19 (3), 516–533.
• Turner, L. , & Ash, J. (1975). The golden hordes: International tourism and the pleasure periphery . Constable.
• United Nations . (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . Division for Sustainable Development Goals.
• United Nations World Tourism Organization . (2002). Tourism and poverty alleviation . United Nations World Tourism Organization.
• United Nations World Tourism Organization . (2020). UNWTO world tourism barometer . United Nations World Tourism Organization.
• Viner, D. (2006). Tourism and its interactions with climate change. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 14 (4), 317–322.
• Vitousek, P. M. , Mooney, H. A. , Lubchenco, J. , & Melillo, J. M. (1997). Human domination of Earth’s ecosystems. Science , 277 (5325), 494–499.
• World Commission on Environment and Development . (1987). Our common future . Oxford University Press.
• Weaver, D. (2007). Towards sustainable mass tourism: Paradigm shift or paradigm nudge? Tourism Recreation Research , 32 (3), 65–69.
• Weaver, D. B. (2012). Organic, incremental and induced paths to sustainable mass tourism convergence. Tourism Management , 33 (5), 1030–1037.
• Weaver, D. B. (2014). Asymmetrical dialectics of sustainable tourism: Toward enlightened mass tourism. Journal of Travel Research , 53 (2), 131–140.
• Wheeller, B. (2007). Sustainable mass tourism: More smudge than nudge the canard continues. Tourism Recreation Research , 32 (3), 73–75.
• Whitford, M. , & Ruhanen, L. (2016). Indigenous tourism research, past and present: Where to from here? Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 24 (8–9), 1080–1099.
• Whyte, K. P. (2010). An environmental justice framework for indigenous tourism. Environmental Philosophy , 7 (2), 75–92.
• Wolff, K. , & Larsen, S. (2014). Can terrorism make us feel safer? Risk perceptions and worries before and after the July 22nd attacks. Annals of Tourism Research , 44 , 200–209.
• Yang, W. , Wang, D. , & Chen, G. (2011). Reconstruction strategies after the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, China. Tourism Management , 32 (4), 949–956.
• Young, G. (1973). Tourism—blessing or blight? Penguin.
• Zapata, M. J. , Hall, C. M. , Lindo, P. , & Vanderschaeghe, M. (2011). Can community-based tourism contribute to development and poverty alleviation? Lessons from Nicaragua. Current Issues in Tourism , 14 (8), 725–749.

1. One megatonne (Mt) is equal to 1 million (10 6 ) metric tons.

2. One megajoule (MJ) is equal to 1 million (10 6 ) joules, or approximately the kinetic energy of a 1-megagram (tonne) vehicle moving at 161 km/h.

3. One gigatonne (Gt) is equal to 1 billion (10 9 ) metric tons.

Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Environmental Science. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 03 May 2024

• Cookie Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Legal Notice
• Accessibility
• [66.249.64.20|185.126.86.119]
• 185.126.86.119

Character limit 500 /500

What is pro-poor tourism and why is it so great?

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

Pro-poor tourism is a fantastic example of how tourism can be used as a force for good. But what exactly is pro-poor tourism and how does it work? Read on to learn more…

What is pro-poor tourism?

How does pro-poor tourism work, benefits of pro-poor tourism, limitations of pro-poor tourism, ecotourism in laos, the african pro-poor tourism development centre, reality tours & travel, bedouin weaving in israel, ashanti african tours, further reading.

Pro-poor tourism, often referred to as PPP, is a model of tourism that ‘generates net benefits for the poor’. It dates back to the early 2000s (with the term first being coined in 1999) and was presented as an initiative to use the vast amount of money generated by tourism, to help the world’s poorest people. Strategically, pro-poor tourism aims to ‘increase economic stability and mitigate the negative effects of local cultures and environments’. 

Essentially, pro-poor tourism is about generating more money for poor people in poor countries. It aims to improve their lives through the billions of Pounds the tourism industry brings in every year. This sounds great, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to go on vacation and know that by doing so they are helping to enhance the lives of the poor? Unfortunately, it isn’t quite as simple as it sounds and in order to achieve this is requires careful management of the economic impacts of tourism .

There are three strategies which countries must apply in order to see success with pro-poor tourism. These are as follows:

• To increase the financial profits of poor people
• To enrich the lives of the native community
• To encourage collaboration with the poor

As you can see, each of these strategies place poor people and locals ahead of tourists . The concept understands that the people who live in these communities, whose homes and livelihoods are here, are more important than the fleeting visitors.

The Borgen Project, a non-profit dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger, explain this in more detail:

The first strategy of Pro-Poor Tourism is to increase the financial profits of the poor. PPT promotes the growth of local occupational opportunities and the development of local businesses that supply products for the tourist industry. The second strategy is to enrich the lives of native citizens. PPT provides locals with availability to facilities and services originally established for tourists. The third strategy of Pro-Poor Tourism is to stimulate collaboration with the poor. This involves promoting the participation of the poor in the government and private sectors. In addition, it also includes increasing policy formation that supports the involvement of the poor.

So how exactly can tourism help the poor? Well there are many different things that tourism industry stakeholders can do to ensure that tourism development and planning focusses on benefitting the poor, some examples include:

• Hiring local people
• Donating part of the profits to the local community
• Building facilities and infrastructure that will also improve the lives of the local community
• Introducing volunteer tourism projects
• Limiting economic leakage in tourism
• Developing tourism that involves the host community such as cultural tourism or agritourism
• Integrating public needs into tourism planning and development
• Giving the local community a voice

There are, naturally, some pro-poor tourism initiatives that work better than others, and this often comes down to the way that it is managed. Here is a a 10 point list demonstrating good practice in pro-poor tourism:

• PPT goes well beyond community tourism. It needs a diversity of actions, from micro to macro level , including product development, marketing, planning, policy, and investment .
• A driving force for PPT is useful , but other stakeholders with broader mandates, are critical. PPT can be incorporated into tourism development strategies of government or business (with or without explicit pro-poor language). Actions outside tourism, such as on land tenure, small enterprise, representative government, are also key.
• Location matters. PPT works best where the wider destination is developing well.
• In remote areas the poverty impact may be greater, though tourism itself may be on a limited scale .
• PPT strategies often involve the development of new products, particularly based on local culture , but these should be integrated with mainstream products if they are to find markets.
• Ensuring commercial viability is a priority. This requires close attention to demand, product quality, marketing, investment in business skills , and inclusion of the private sector.
• Economic measures should expand both regular jobs and casual earning opportunities, while tackling both demand (e.g. markets) and supply (e.g. products of the poor).
• Non-financial benefits (e.g. increased participation) can reduce vulnerability, more could be done to address these .
• PPT is a long-term investment. Expectations must be managed and short-term benefits developed in the interim .
• External funding may be required to cover the substantial transaction costs of establishing partnerships, developing skills, and revising policies (not generally for direct subsidies to enterprises).

There are, of course, so many benefits to pro-poor tourism. The main one is that when done correctly, it helps people out of poverty. This is one of the most important things in the world. Coming out of poverty enables people to have better physical and mental health; it allows them to be properly nourished, to focus on something other than being in poverty. With 9.2% of the global population living in what is described as ‘extreme poverty’ (on less than $1.90 per day), it is clear that something needs to be done. Pro-poor tourism is a proactive step in the right direction. 

When one person comes out of poverty thanks to pro-poor tourism, it creates a knock on effect. They are able to help others, and advise their community. Success builds success, and the opportunities coming out of this concept are life changing for many.

The benefits of pro-poor tourism don’t stop there. If we think about applying this to our own travels, it encourages us to be a bit more considerate. Rather than choosing a chain restaurant, perhaps, we might choose a small family-run business for dinner. This way the profits are going straight back into the local community! Being a pro-poor tourist means thinking carefully about where your money is going, and how much of it is being used to help people in poverty. It can be less convenient, but it feels much better to know that your tourist dollars are supporting poor people.

There are limitations when it comes to pro-poor tourism. Of course, once someone is in poverty it is difficult to get out. There may be jobs provided and money going into the local community but where debts and taxes are high, there is often not much more that tourists and travel companies can do.

And of course, businesses like to see a profit. Wen et al published an article in 2021 entitled Pro-Poor Tourism and Local Practices: An Empirical Study of an Autonomous County in China , and they found that:

Enterprises participating in pro-poor tourism strategies provide a creative channel to reduce poverty in less economically developed areas and help form a diversified group of tourism poverty alleviation participants. However, in the early stage of tourism development, tourism enterprises have to deal with substantial control and management dilemmas because of the large capital investment required, the small number of tourists, and the slow return on capital.

In addition, pro-poor tourism relies on different sectors working together. Governments, agencies, donors and tourists themselves must all be on the same page – and in reality, this is often difficult to master.

Sadly, not all people who work in the travel and tourism industry are philanthropic in nature, nor are they entirely honest and transparent. There are some organisations that may claim to help the poor in order to gain a positive corporate social image, but their claims may not reflect reality. I suggest that if you are considering embarking on a pro-poor tourism venture, take a careful look at the companies involved in attempt to verify where your money will go and if it is indeed directed towards the poor in the way that is anticipated. Whilst this information might not always be transparent, you can start by reading the company reviews, as that will often give you a good clue.

Examples of pro-poor tourism

There are many examples worldwide of pro-poor tourism around the world. That is, activities that exist to especially benefit the poorest communities globally. You can see some specific ones below!

Laos, in Southeast Asia, is a breathtaking country. With ecological diversity, a mountainous terrain, stunning French colonial architecture, hill tribe settlements and Buddhist monasteries, there is so much to discover here. Ecotourism Laos aim to protect the country’s natural resources as well as benefit the poor community. The vision is as follows:

Laos will become a world renowned destination specializing in all forms of sustainable tourism that, through partnership and cooperation, will benefit natural and cultural heritage conservation, local socio-economic development, and spread knowledge of Laos’ uniqueness around the world.

They provide opportunities for tourists to discover the beautiful country while proactively giving back to the community. Local villagers are able to get involved with tourist activities, which they can then benefit from. For example, you can go on an interactive hike with a locally trained guide. This is a way of investing in the people and economy of Laos.

Known as the APTDC, this organisation uses tourism as follows:

…as a strategic tool to enhance social economic development and improve social-wellbeing of communities through Pro-Poor Tourism Development interventions. This simply means ensuring that the travel and transport sector supports local based/acceptable development interventions for the POOR and VULNERABLE populations from various communities in Kenya, sustainably. This is realized through  short and longterm partnerships with communities, government,  individuals, institutions, foundations, donors, corporates and associations.

You can pay slightly more for your safari in Kenya, with the price difference going directly towards supporting community developed projects. The money pays for access to clean water and education for local residents in Kenya.

This is a company based in India . I discussed them in this blog post about slum tourism . What they do can be classed as pro-poor tourism. They offer ‘ethical and educational’ slum tours in Mumbai. These claim to offer a glimpse into everyday life, and many tourists do want to visit slums whilst in India – whether or not you agree with this practice is up to you. However, Reality Tours & Travel as a company are dedicated to improving the lives of the community, especially those living below the poverty line. As such, 80% of profits are directed to Reality Gives. This is their NGO, providing access to quality education for children across India since 2009. Alongside this, the majority of tour guides are from the community too. This is pro-poor tourism in action for sure.

Sidreh-Lakiya is a non-profit organisation aiming to improve the lives of Bedouin women. You can choose from a few different tours: trying Bedouin weaving, learning about women-led economic development initiatives, or understanding Bedouin life from a geopolitical perspective. The proceeds benefit the organisation and its women directly. Israel is a fascinating country to visit, but sadly a whopping 85% of the Bedouin community in Negev live below the poverty line. Sidreh-Lakiya are providing a brilliant example of pro-poor tourism, which is really beneficial to the local community.

There are many parts of Africa with high poverty levels. Ashanti African Tours, based in Ghana, run tours in a few different African countries. From Senegal to Liberia and Ethiopia to Ghana itself, you can go birdwatching or hiking, explore the local history and so much more. There is wildlife and culture on offer wherever you look. They aim to support businesses run by local community members, therefore putting money into local economies. Ashanti also provides opportunities for local communities. These include school projects, free training to educate youths to become self-sufficient, and even free reading and writing lessons for adults. This is pro-poor tourism in action, benefitting so many people across an entire continent .

There has been so much research done into pro-poor tourism. This covers its impacts and benefits, as well as the many questions that have surrounded the concept since its birth. You can read some of them, as well as some other articles that may interest you, below.

• Pro-Poor Tourism: Harnessing the World’s Largest Industry for the World’s Poor
• The Strategy of Pro-Poor Tourism by Borgen
• Accessible tourism explained: What, why and how
• What is ‘begpacking’ and why is it so bad?
• What is sustainable tourism and why does it matter?

Liked this article? Click to share!

Advertisement

Poverty tourism: theoretical reflections and empirical findings regarding an extraordinary form of tourism

• Published: 26 September 2009
• Volume 75 , pages 421–442, ( 2010 )

Cite this article

• Manfred Rolfes 1  

6350 Accesses

83 Citations

3 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

During the mid-1990s, a new form of tourism was established in metropolises of several developing countries or emerging nations . This type of tourism consists in visits to the most disadvantaged parts of the respective city. Poverty tours or slum tours are offered on a relatively large scale in the South African cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, as well as in Indian metropolises, to name some important examples. The target group of these tours consists primarily of international tourists. It is estimated that 40,000 such tourists visit favelas in Rio de Janeiro each year, around 300,000 the townships in Cape Town. This contribution refers to and comments on these developments and insights regarding poverty tourism or slumming, based on empirical research and experiences in South Africa, Brazil, and India. It will be shed light on the phenomenon from an observational-theoretical perspective. It is aimed to open a discussion on the ways poverty tours or slumming observes and simultaneously programmatically charges poverty. And, it will be considered in which way poverty tourism is observed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Impact of tourism development upon environmental sustainability: a suggested framework for sustainable ecotourism

The Narrative Policy Framework: A Traveler’s Guide to Policy Stories

An Introduction to Migration Studies: The Rise and Coming of Age of a Research Field

See the considerations about slumming in New York in Dowling ( 2007 ).

See the reflections in Freire-Medeiros ( 2009 , p. 582).

The term dark tourism was coined by Foley and Lennon in the mid 1990s. However, this kind of tourism already exists much longer. Thus the Christian pilgrimage to the sight where Jesus Christ was crucified can be brought into this context (Robinson and Dale 2009 ). Many of the dark tourism definitions are limited and apply solely to places of death and grief. These include among others concentration camps, battlegrounds, and cemeteries.

See the typology of Stone ( 2006 ) on dark tourism sites and the dark tourism spectrum.

This approach is based on the theory of social systems by the German sociologist Luhmann ( 1984 , 1998 ). For an overview see Müller and Powell ( 1994 ).

For Luhmann’s systems theory, these differentiations and observations are constitutive in grasping the difference between system and surroundings (Luhmann 1984 , p. 243).

Compare with a relevant example regarding video surveillance in Rolfes ( 2007 , pp. 74–75).

A large proportion of the tour companies in Cape Town that were interviewed for the survey were founded between 2001 and 2005.

A major part of the empirical evaluation was conducted within a research project in Cape Town, led by the author in February/March 2007. Furthermore, during another field stay in February/March 2008 own empirical follow-up surveys took place.

It is difficult to clearly quantify the number of companies offering township tours in Cape Town. According to the estimation of the author it ranges between 40 and 50 companies, highly varying in terms of profile and degree of professionalism.

All results are available in detail in Rolfes et al. ( 2009 ).

The District Six Museum documents the correspondent district’s development history. In 1966, the “non-white” population of this hitherto multicultural district had been expelled and forcibly moved to townships. At the beginning of the 1980s all building in this area were demolished. The land has lain waste ever since. (See “About the museum” at http://www.districtsix.co.za , accessed 6 December 2008).

15% of the 179 respondents had seen a township before. Most of them had been to Soweto, Johannesburg, probably the best-known township of South Africa.

This does not apply to the word pairs modern/traditional and African/non-African , as these do not include an intrinsic positive/negative connotation.

The empirical analyses were conducted during the author’s favela visit in July/August 2008.

The statements made about the tours here are based on the comprehensive studies by Freire-Medeiros ( 2007 , 2009 ) and Menezes ( 2007 ).

This is also common practice with other favela tours, cf. Machado ( 2007 : 32).

The truth is that drug dealers make the peace … Peace means no robbery, and that law is very well respected. Statement by a tour operator in Rio de Janeiro. Quoted in Yurchyshyn ( 2008 ).

See http://www.cariocadesign.com/themaze or http://www.bealocal.com , accessed 6 December 2008.

See the statistical data of the Indian Tour Operators Promotion Council at http://www.itopc.org/travel-requisite/inbound-tourism-statistics.html , accessed 20 August 2009.

The term slum tourism is used in numerous sources referring to touristic tours to informal settlements in Indian megacities. The operators of such tours also describe them as slum tours.

See http://realitytoursandtravel.com/slumtours.html , accessed 6 August 2009.

One part of the empirical research was conducted by the author during a field stay in Mumbai in March 2009. Additionally, an extensive survey was conducted in the course of a master thesis between February and April 2009 (Meschkank 2009 ).

Qualitative interviews with 19 tour participant were conducted. (Meschkank 2009 , pp. 55–57).

Cf. on dark tourism: Stone and Sharpley ( 2008 ); See reports in the mass media about war or terror tourism.

Aderhold, P., Kösterke, A., von Laßberg, D., & Vielhaber, A. (2006). Tourismus in Entwicklungsländer . Ammerland: Studienkreis für Tourismus und Entwicklung e.V.

Google Scholar  

AP (2007). Township tourism booming as visitors want to see “real” South Africa. International Herald Tribune. Africa & Middle East , 3 January 2007.

Chagas, V. (2006). O venhevai do turismo e o sobidesce da favela. Accessed December 6, 2008, from http://www.overmundo.com.br/overblog/o-venhevai-do-turismo-e-o-sobidesce-da-favela .

Cornelissen, S. (2006). Tourism development and policy in Cape Town: Patterns, issues and lessons for other African cities . Presented as Part of the Seminar Series under the GDRI Research Programme, ‘Governing cities in Africa: Law, local institutions and urban identities since 1945,’ University of Stellenbosch, August, 25, 2006. Accessed July 14, 2008, from http://www.gdri-africancities.org/uploads/documents/GDRI_Cornelissen%20S.pdf .

Danielzik, C., & Khan, R. (2006). Fern Weh: Statisten ihres eigenen Alltags. Townshiptouren in Kapstadt als Herausforderung für die Tourismuskritik. iz3w, 291 , 37–39.

Davis, M. (2006). Planet of slums . London: Verso.

Dowling, R. M. (2007). Slumming in New York. From the Waterfront to Mythic Harlem . Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Egner, H. (2006). Autopoiesis, Form und Beobachtung. Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, 148 , 92–108.

Freire-Mederios, B. (2007). A favela que se vê e que se vende. Reflexões e polêmicas em torno de um destino turístico. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, 22 (65), 62–72.

Freire-Mederios, B. (2009). The favela and its touristic transits. Geoforum, 40 (4), 580–588.

Article   Google Scholar  

Gentleman, A. (2006). Slum tours: a day trip too far? The Observer , 7 May 2006.

Government of South Africa, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. (1996). The Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa. Pretoria.

Jaguaribe, B., & Hetherington, K. (2004). Favela Tours: Indistinct and maples representations of the real in reo de Janeiro. In M. Sheller & J. Urry (Eds.), Tourism mobilities. Places to play, places in play. London (pp. 155–166). New York: Routledge.

Jamal, T., & Lelo, L. (2009). Exploring the conceptual and analytical framing of dark tourism: From darkness to intentionality. Unpublished manuscript of the International Conference: Tourist experiences: Meanings, Motivations, Behaviours, April 1–4, 2009, University of Lancashire, Lancashire, UK.

Kendle, A. (2008). Poverty tourism: Exploring the slums of India, Brazil, South Africa. Vagabondish: The Travelzine for Today’s Vagabond , 7 February 2008. Accessed December 6, 2008, from http://www.vagabondish.com/poverty-tourism-touring-the-slums-of-india-brazil-and-south-africa/ .

Koven, S. (2006). Slumming: Sexual and social politics in Victorian London . Princeton: University Press.

Ludvigsen, A. (2002). Langa is not an island. Township Tourism in South Africa. Master Thesis. University Kopenhagen, Institut of Anthropology, Kopenhagen.

Luhmann, N. (1984). Soziale Systeme: Grundriß einer allgemeinen Theorie . Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp.

Luhmann, N. (1998). Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft. 2 Bde . Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp.

MacCannell, D. (1999). The tourist: A new theory of leisure class . Berkley: University of California Press.

Machado, D. S. (2007). Turismo de Favela e Desenvolvimento Sustentável Um estudo do Turismo de Favela no bairro de Vila Canoa, zona sul do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janiero. PUC–Rio, Departamento de Serviço Social.

Margraf, M. (2006). Community based tourism: Ein instrument nachhaltiger Entwicklung ehemals benachteiligter Bevölkerungsgruppen am Beispiel Kaymandi, Südafrika . Saarbrücken: VDM-Verlag.

Menezes, P. (2007). Turismo e favela: Reflexões sobre ética e fotografia. Dialogando no Turismo, 1 (3), 10–30.

Meschkank, J. (2009). Untersuchungen zu Raum- und Kulturkonstruktionen anhand des Slumtourismus in Mumbai, Indien. Unpublished Master Thesis. Department of Geography, University of Potsdam.

Ministério do Turismo. (2008). Estatísticas básicas do turismo – Brasil. Brasília.

Ministério do Turismo. (2009). Estudo da demanda turística internacional 2005–2007. Brasília.

Müller, H., & Powell, L. (1994). Luhmann’s systems theory as a theory of modernity. New German Critique , No. 61, Special Issue on Niklas Luhmann, pp. 39–54.

Pott, A. (2005). Kulturgeographie beobachtet. Probleme und Potentiale der geographischen Beobachtung von Kultur. Erdkunde, 59 (2), 89–101.

Pott, A. (2007). Orte des Tourismus. Eine raum- und gesellschaftstheoretische Untersuchung . Bielefeld: Transcript.

Pott, A., & Steinbrink, M. (2009). Die Kultur des Slum(ming)s. Zur historischen Rekonstruktion eines globalen Phänomens. In H. Wöhler, A. Pott, & V. Denzer (Eds). Tourismusräume. Zur soziokulturellen Konstruktion eines globalen Phänomens . Bielefeld: Transcript (in press).

Ramchander, P. (2004). Towards the responsible management of the socio-cultural impact of township tourism . Pretoria: University of Pretoria, Department of Tourism Management. Accessed August 14, 2008, from http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08262004-130507/ .

Ramchander, P. (2007). Township tourism: Blessing or blight? The case of Soweto in South Africa. In G. Richards (Ed.), Cultural tourism: Global and local perspectives (pp. 39–67). New York: Haworth Press.

Rath, J. (Ed.). (2007). Tourism, ethnic diversity and the city . New York, London: Routledge.

Robinson, N., & Dale, C. (2009). Wanted man: A conceptual review of the role of dark tourism in facilitating the exploration of unsolved cold case murders. Unpublished manuscript of the International Conference: Tourist experiences: Meanings, motivations, behaviours, April 01–04, 2009, University of Lancashire, Lancashire, UK.

Rogerson, C. M. (2003). Tourism and transformation. Small enterprise development in South Africa. Africa Insight, 33 (1/2), 108–115.

Rogerson, C. M. (2004). Urban tourism and small tourism enterprise development in Johannesburg: The case of township tourism. GeoJournal, 60 (3), 249–257.

Rolfes, M. (2007). Konstruktion und Konstrukteure unsicherer Räume. Beiträge aus der Sicht der Geographie. In: Zurawski, N. (Ed.), Surveillance Studies (pp. 67-84). Opladen/Farmington Hills.

Rolfes, M., & Steinbrink, M., & Uhl, C. (2009). Township as Attraction. An Empirical Study of Township Tourism in Cape Town . Potsdam: Universitätsverlag. (Praxis Kultur- und Sozialgeographie, 46).

Röwekamp, C. (2004). Tourismus in Indien – ungeschliffener Diamant. Accessed August 19, 2009, from http://www.spiegel.de/reise/fernweh/0,1518,332853,00.html .

Schröder, H. (2007). Armut live. Südwind Magazin (2), Wien, 24.

Simone-Charteris, M. (2009). Dark tourism and the political tourism interface: The case of Northern Island. Unpublished manuscript of the International Conference: Tourist experiences: Meanings, motivations, behaviours, April 1–4, 2009, University of Lancashire, Lancashire, UK.

Spencer Brown, G. (1969/1997). Laws of form. Gesetze der form . Lübeck: Bohmeier.

Statistics South Africa. (2008). Tourism, 2008. Report No. 03-51-02 (2008). Pretoria.

Stone, P. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Tourism: An Interdisciplinary International Journal, 52 (2), 145–160.

Stone, P. R., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 35 (2), 574–595.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme. (2003). The Challenge of Slums. Global report on human settlements, 2003 . London and Sterling: Earthscan Publications Ltd.

Urry, J. (2002). The tourist gaze . London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Viggiano, B. (2008). Dharavi through a peephole. The Times of India , 18 May 2008.

Weiner, E. (2008). Slum visits: Tourism or voyeurism? New York Times, Travel , 9 March 2008.

Welz, G. (1993). Slum als Sehenswürdigkeit. ‘Negative Sightseeing’ im Städtetourismus. In D. Kramer & R. Lutz (Eds.), Tourismus-Kultur, Kultur-Tourismus (pp. 39–53). Münster: Lit-Verlag.

Yurchyshyn, A. (February, 2008). A dose of reality. Poverty-tour guides explain the relatively new concept—and show how to find an excursion that’s right for you. Accessed December 6, 2008, from http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2008/01/07/AR2008010701680.html .

Download references

Acknowledgements

This article is a strongly modified, complementary version to the paper “Poorism—What is shown to the tourists?” presented at the International conference: Tourist Experiences: Meanings, Motivations, Behaviours, April 1–4, 2009, University of Lancashire. I want to thank Annette Balch, Ralf bei der Kellen and Damian Mac Con Uladh for translating and revising this article, as well as Christina Uhl for her active support and the helpful assistance in finishing this article.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Geography, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

Manfred Rolfes

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manfred Rolfes .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Rolfes, M. Poverty tourism: theoretical reflections and empirical findings regarding an extraordinary form of tourism. GeoJournal 75 , 421–442 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-009-9311-8

Download citation

Published : 26 September 2009

Issue Date : October 2010

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-009-9311-8

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Poverty tourism
• Observational-theoretical approach
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Conclusions: Issues and Challenges for Managing and Marketing Tourism Experiences

The Handbook of Managing and Marketing Tourism Experiences

ISBN : 978-1-78635-290-3 , eISBN : 978-1-78635-289-7

Publication date: 28 December 2016

(2016), "Conclusions: Issues and Challenges for Managing and Marketing Tourism Experiences", Sotiriadis, M. and Gursoy, D. (Ed.) The Handbook of Managing and Marketing Tourism Experiences , Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 507-528. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78635-290-320161025

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited

The final chapter of the Handbook of Managing and Marketing Tourism Experiences summarizes the issues and aspects highlighted, as well as conclusions formulated by authors in previous chapters, and provides suggestions and recommendations for local planners, destination and business managers to successfully design, manage, and market tourism experiences. As discussed earlier, a tourism experience refers to a chain of events. A tourism experience creation begins with an event where an individual experiences (activity) an attraction or business (resources) within a particular context or situation. This event generates a reaction and that reaction results in a memory upon which the individual reflects and creates a new meaning. Ultimately the individual, through this meaning-making process, both increases his or her understanding of the world and of the self as well. Studies suggest that the experience formation takes place in consumers’ mind, and the outcome of experience consumption depends on how consumers, based on a specific situation or state of mind, react to the series of encounters that forms an experience.

There is no question that successfully designed, managed, and marketed tourism experiences are critical determinants of a destination/business’ success in a highly competitive tourism marketplace. However, creation and delivery of highly successful tourism experiences heavily depends on how well the destination/business managers understand customers’ experiential needs, wants and expectations, and how well hospitality and tourism businesses work together to create a memorable experience for their customers by addressing those experiential needs, wants, and expectations. Considering the fact that hospitality and tourism products are multidimensional, and usually consists of a “series of experiences” achieved through a combination of a diverse array of products and services, it is vital for destination and business managers to understand the importance of the interplay among various suppliers of those experiences. The quality of each experience delivered by a variety of providers is of vital importance to the overall tourism experience quality. From consumers’ perspective, the product they purchase is the total experience, covering the entire amalgam of all aspects and components of the experience, including attitudes and expectations. Accordingly, the overall tourism experience is a “series of experiences” achieved through a combination of a diverse array of products and services; an amalgam of multiple components supplied by a range of businesses. The tourist experience is the result of a process where facilities, services, and attitudes from multiple businesses are configured to produce an experience of value to customers. In other words, tourism experience is a “multi-faceted” and a “hybrid” experience, taking place in phases and tourists use services from more than one organization.

Tourism experiences are “deconstructed” products because they bring together a number of services from a number of individual businesses. In other words, a tourist’s experience consists of a series of services and products, which are offered by businesses that operate separately. Ideally, each of those services a tourist receives from different companies is a value-adding service or a value-adding experience. The value chain of a tourist experience includes a number of players that are involved in offering and delivering all tourism-related services. Furthermore, a series of businesses, interactions, resources, and knowledge streams are involved in the creation and delivery of a memorable tourism experience to the end-consumer. This creates the need for integration of the whole range of supply chain activities because service delivery failures of any businesses involved in the delivery of a tourism experience can have significant negative consequences for the whole system. Any dissatisfactory experience with any service aspect decreases tourists’ satisfaction with their overall tourism experiences. Furthermore, those dissatisfactory experiences may deter the total value of the hybrid tourism experiences offered. As a result, this may decrease the total value of the tourism experience and may decrease the overall satisfaction with tourism experience and may have significant negative influences on loyalty, which may have a significant impact on financial performance of companies involved in the delivery of tourism experiences. Therefore, it is crucial for companies to make sure that other companies involved in the process provide satisfactory experiences.

From the above discussion, it is clear that planning, design, management, and marketing of experiences for tourism markets constitute a focal challenge for tourism destinations and providers in a highly competitive marketplace. All businesses and organizations involved in have to address challenges and issues of providing high-quality experiences to tourists. This handbook was designed to bridge the gap in contemporary literature by carefully examining management and marketing issues of tourism experiences. Large number of scholars who contributed to this handbook have explored and analyzed the main issues and challenges in the field of tourism experiences from a strategic management and marketing perspective. Furthermore, those scholars have provided critical insights and discussed a number of approaches for planning, managing, and marketing experiences for tourists. Overall, contributions from distinguished scholars in the area have (i) provided a detailed analysis of the main issues and challenges related to tourism experience management and marketing; (ii) presented and discussed analytical frameworks and tools; (iii) explored theoretical and practical approaches for managing and marketing experiences in various tourism contexts and industries; and (vi) discussed and analyzed case studies illustrating approaches adopted, methods implemented, and best practices in addressing related issues.

This handbook examined design, management, marketing, and customers’ evaluation of tourism experiences under four main parts. The first part titled “Planning: Design and Creating Tourism Experiences” examined theoretical and practical issues and concerns related to design and creation of tourism experiences. The second part titled “Managing: Organizing and Delivering Tourism Experiences” explored theoretical and practical issues and concerns related to managing tourism experiences within various contexts, industries, and settings. The third part titled “Marketing: Communicating and Promoting Tourism Experiences” focused on theoretical and practical issues and concerns related to marketing of hospitality and tourism experiences within various contexts, industries, and settings. The last part of the handbook titled “Monitoring and Evaluating Tourism Experiences” examined theoretical and practical issues and approaches related to monitoring the quality of tourism experiences and those experiences impact on travelers post experience behaviors including satisfaction, loyalty, and word of mouth behaviors.

Part I: Planning: Design and Creating Tourism Experiences

The first part titled “Planning: Design and Creating Tourism Experiences” consisted of six chapters focusing on experience-based service design, design of experiences, experience-centric approach and innovation, crucial role and contribution of human resources in the context of tourism experiences, social media and the co-creation of tourism experiences, and creation and marketing of tourism attraction experiences.

A service design path built around various elements such as sensations, emotions, human relations, innovations, and values was presented in Chapter 1. In this chapter, the author provided an extensive review of literature on the topic and utilized the Singapore Airlines web page as a case to investigate the appropriateness of the instructional path discussed in the chapter. The author argued that experience-based service design contains several components, and that this service design should be established within three-steps, namely explore, design, and positioning. Based on the extensive review of the literature, the author highlighted the instructional path for experience-based service design and implementation process. The author suggested that the instructional path can be used to guide business managers/experience engineers. Author further argued that since the experiences are formed based on a set of emotions, by focusing on creating meanings and relating to the moment aspects of the experience-based service design, destinations and businesses can develop and deliver experiences that meets/exceeds customers’ expectations. With this foresight, the author suggested that an instructional path for experience-based design implementation process should start with trying to understand customers’ expectations and continue with building up the experience scene and focusing on the configuration of the customer interface.

The experience-centric strategy from the perspective of innovation management, its contribution to designing and managing valuable tourism experiences, especially in context of guided tours were discussed in Chapter 2. The chapter provided an extensive review of the literature on experience-centric approaches and innovation. The author also provided a conceptual discussion on the concepts of experience-centric innovation and experience innovation, particularly the role of experience design and market intelligence in experience-centric service processes. The conceptual discussion was further enhanced by analyzing empirical data from interviews with 11 tour providers. The author concluded that creation of novel experiences through product innovation is the most common type of innovation on frames of guided tours. While the group size is found to be an influential feature of the experience design, imitation is found to be a major threat. The author also explored the role of knowledge management and dynamics of knowledge on experience creation. Tour guides were identified as experiential knowledge collectors and/or creators, thus their role in knowledge management is crucial alongside the market intelligence. In contrast, costumer-driven innovation was not seen by tour providers as a crucial issue in creating memorable experiences.

The importance of human resources in creation and delivery of tourism experiences was discussed in Chapter 3. Authors provided an extensive literature review on issues and aspects of human resources management and its role in tourism experience creation and delivery. Authors also provided micro-cases and examples to illustrate utilization of various human resources management tools and practices. Their findings suggested that human resources play a critical role in overcoming the challenges faced during the creation, management, and delivery of experiences that meet customer expectations. Furthermore, authors argued that managing human resources strategically and enabling employees to develop new skill sets to deliver satisfactory experiences is critical because consumption experience has shifted from the servicescape to the experiencescape environment. Therefore, strategic human resources management is a must for tourism businesses that aim to provide valuable tourism experiences. There is an urgent need for development of tools that can be utilized for experiential intelligence and development of skill sets that can be used to deliver customized tourism experiences to contemporary tourists.

A conceptual model of tourist experiences in a destination was proposed in Chapter 4. The model was developed after reviewing the literature on tourist experiences and exploring a brief case. Authors argue that although there is an increasing interest in literature on customer experiences, the definition, conceptualization, components, and measurement of tourist experiences are still ambiguous. Measuring the overall experience in destinations is more complex than measuring it for individual service experiences because it extends a period of time and involves a synergistic interaction and consumption of integrated products and services simultaneously. The holistic destination experience model proposed in this chapter emphasized the important roles DMOs, host community, and industry play in the creation of the overall experiencescape. Authors argued that participation of local community in tourism experience delivery is critical for the delivery of a proper destination experience. DMOs also play an important role in the creation of an environment that facilities the creation and delivery of a satisfactory service experiences. DMOs can play an important role through coordination of various public and private actors, promotion of the destination, investing on infrastructure and lobbying with decision makers. Secondly, DMOs can also encourage and promote cultural events, festivals, arts, and other cultural activities that can improve tourist experience. Furthermore, the level of service provided by the industry acts as a supporting experiential factor for travelers. Authors further argued that both DMOs and individual service suppliers must understand the holistic experiential attributes the destination offers. Destinations should focus on developing new programs that people can experience and learn new things unique to the destination. Activities that involve both locals and tourists and motivate them to explore their talents, skills, and capabilities, increase the level of social interaction both with the locals working in tourism services (e.g., hotels) as well as with locals who are not involved in the tourism industry (e.g., in public transportation) would enhance experiences. Individuals who experience local culture are more likely to have a positive experience. Promotion of local food, local architecture, farmers markets, and other activities that increase interaction with locals would also improve tourist experiences. These can also be used in destination marketing. For example, local food is rarely utilized as a part of destination promotion. Using local clues is much more effective than using the images of beaches or international facilities that can be found pretty much in every destination in the World.

The role and the impact of social media in influencing and shaping tourism experiences was examined in Chapter 5 utilizing a Service Dominant Logic and co-creation approach and concepts for examining how the social media can influence interactions and participation that represent two major sources of tourism experiences. The author has argued that the social media do not only alter the nature of current experiences but also facilitate the transformation and continuous formation of experiences as well as the formation and creation of new types of tourism experiences. The author further argued that social media assists and facilitates tourism experiences (when tourists share travel resources for assisting others’ travel planning processes); enriches and augments tourism experiences (when online travel resources enable tourists to make experiences more personalized, meaningful, imaginative, and emotional); forms tourism experiences (when social media interactions amongst various actors at micro, meso, and macro level enable an iterative co-construction process of experience meaning, understanding, and evaluation); mediates tourism experiences (the virtual experience of a destination); becomes the tourism experience itself (the use of the social media while traveling is the core and major purpose of having a tourism experience, that is, the social media become a tourism experience); empowers tourism experiences (when customers are empowered to participate and engage in the value co-creation processes of the firm, that is, the customer is embedded within the firm’s value system); and enables tourism experiences (i.e., the use of social media for creating new types of tourism experiences, e.g., when the customer uses the social media for becoming a tourism entrepreneur providing tourism experiences, e.g., sharing economy, the customer uses the firm’s infrastructure and value system for providing – marketing tourism experiences). The author concluded that social media co-created tourism experiences are enabled and supported through interactions and participation that change the major dimensions of the co-creation generating processes.

The current trends toward both creative and experiential tourism in cities in terms of development and marketing of local attractions were explored in Chapter 6. Authors provided a profile of creative tourism in cities through a literature review and further investigated by utilizing of a case study at a local attraction in Toronto, Canada. The choice of a site was one of a creative city and the repurposing of a formerly industrial site for visitation. The study of Evergreens Brickworks has demonstrated the use of market segmentation and product-market match techniques to identify markets and match visitors with experiences. These techniques are of particular importance for attractions with a local audience that also wish to attract tourists. Authors argued that the visitor segmentation method can help managers to identify the fit between the profile of their attraction to local visitors and tourists, thus identifying the motivations and interests of tourists that might differ and may lead to product innovation. For example, in the case of the Evergreen Brickworks pre-scheduled and bookable activities offered to locals would need to be offered on a different basis in order to be of interest to tourists, who may be one time visitors to the site. Likewise, the product-market match process can identify the suitability of current product offerings for both existing local audiences and visitors, suggesting areas in which products could be modified or indeed created. An example from the Evergreen Brickworks is the identification of the diversity of product elements including a restaurant, sustainability efforts (e.g., innovative energy uses, utilization of heritage and nature within interpretive tours), heritage building, and nature-based activities that can be matched with different visitor segments. The study of the Evergreen Brickworks also demonstrates how a site can employ experiential and creative tourism in an urban setting to differentiate themselves from other local visitor attraction offerings. This is a lesson that could be employed by other local attractions desiring to expand their visitor reach, by attracting tourists visiting their areas. The study of the Evergreen Brickworks also demonstrated the importance of increasing awareness of their sites to potential audiences. Authors argued that the product-market match process can help sites such as the Evergreen Brickworks to profile their unique selling points (USP’s) that can be optimized to engage, educate, and advocate, thereby increase visitation and improve the visitor experience.

Part II: Managing: Organizing and Delivering Tourism Experiences

Delivery process and the issues faced in the management of the tourism experience delivery process within various contexts, industries, and settings were addressed in Part II of this handbook. The second part of the handbook features nine chapters that focus on a wide variety of management issues ranging from impact of culture on delivery of experiential tourism, collaboration between tourism operations, authenticity of experiences, creativity, sustainability, innovation, managing rural and event tourism experiences.

Cultural sensitivity in event design and its impact on ongoing management and tourism experiences was examined in Chapter 7. The author argued the importance of local arts ecologies in creating a unique tourism experience. As long as there is a refreshing diversity of sculptors/artists prepared to present their work at local art festivals, there will be new and different art for participants to enjoy. The author utilized a case study approach and used a new assessment tool, sustainable creative advantage (SCA) to assess SCA for the Sculpture by Sea, Bondi, Sydney 2015. This study was the first to utilize the new SCA assessment tool outside of Hong Kong. Author concluded that the SCA evaluation approach and the results of this application are of interest to academics studying glocality and events, the relationship of curatorial power to content/experience or how such events add to the leisurescapes in tourism.

The growth of Dragon Boat racing from humble beginnings in 1976 as part of a local tourism strategy by the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) to position Hong Kong as more distinctive than a destination for shopping or with British colonial history appeal was examined in Chapter 8 as an event that offers unique experiences to visitors. Authors indicated that the initial steps of the HKTA to incorporate Dragon Boat racing as a local strategy for tourism experience distinctiveness has rapidly evolved into a global strategy for developing a world sport. In this case, a special cultural event, élite, and community sport are combined to create a new tourism niche market, and one that tourism managers can capitalize on by ensuring that the distinctive intangible cultural heritage elements of waking the dragon, and putting it to sleep at the end, the decorative dragon heads on the boats and the drumming style remain quintessential ingredients of the total experience. The author, Fleur Fallon, identified three trends emerging from a review of the literature, namely: concern with balancing authenticity and profit-chasing; the phenomenal fast growth of the sport and the challenge to develop and maintain international control and governance; and seeking evidence of health and wellbeing benefits of Dragon Boat racing for breast cancer survivors. The author argued that the cultural legitimacy and authenticity debate may have some merit, but its focus is narrow and detracts from what has been happening in the last four decades in the growth of Dragon Boat racing as an international competitive and community sport. According to the author, the Dragon Boat racing is alive and well, and honors the original purpose of the Festival for promoting and supporting community, with a focus on health and wellbeing benefits. Since each race begins with some rituals, adapted from the original awakening the Dragon spirit, and with Dragon heads on the bow, plus the rhythmic beating of the drum, intrinsic linkages with the Chinese origin are clearly on display during the event.

Consumer experience within the context of the hotel industry and the impact of collaboration between businesses on providing valuable hospitality experiences in hotel settings was examined in Chapter 9. Authors argued that hotel operators and a destination’s visitor attractions often share common strategic aims. Literature suggested that to be successful in the industry, hotel operations must provide a superior customer experience, and this must be done continuously and efficiently. In addition, hotels need to put more emphasis on improving the quality of their experience offerings and ensure that the needs and expectations of their guests are being met. From a managerial perspective, the customer experience has to be planned for, resources deployed, and personnel put in place to implement the plan. Value is a lived experience for the customer and there is generally a trade-off between benefits and costs. In the hospitality industry, customer experience is delivered through a number of vehicles including partnerships, which provide more attractive guest experience opportunities. By entering into a business venture, hotels can also provide extra customer value and may gain a competitive advantage. Authors argued that analyzing and understanding the guest experience as an emotionally and symbolically rich phenomenon, and anchoring it in a common, appealing, significant and distinctive route or theme (for instance, “Grand Tour”), may be a powerful way to combine the various elements and dimensions of the experience. Authors further argued that investment in business ventures and alliances is a good investment in the sense that it constitutes a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage. The main aim of a business network is, in authors’ view, to generate business and market diversification. A collaborative platform wisely designed can offer a way of extending, enriching, and deepening the hotel guests’ experience, based on endogenous resources. The later and other distinctive elements might be used as a means of diversifying the experience and making it appealing to different individuals within the same market segment. The ultimate aim is to make the experience attractive, pleasant, interactive, diverse, and meaningful.

How the methodology of service blueprinting may contribute to managing and offering high-quality experiences to sport tourists was discussed in Chapter 10. Authors utilized a combination of theoretical tools to develop a finalized services blueprint map for sport events. They argued that observation, diaries, service blueprints, comment management, and FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) are a range of corporate research approaches and management tools that can offer new insights into the theory and praxis of service management applications and can improve the sport tourism experiences. Authors suggested that sporting event managers can utilize blueprints to make sure that the sporting events have all of the internal support systems and technological aspects of an event in place, as well as the employee-customer interactions that are required to create a distinctive customer experience. They further suggested observation, diaries, service blueprints, comment management, and FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) can act as a range of corporate research elements and management tools that can provide new insight into the theory and the praxis of small-scale sporting event customer and experience focused management applications. The case study presented indicated that synthesis of different tools can offer an alternative approach for services blueprinting improvement-planning procedures that arise from a diary-based selection of comments. These comments can reflect the problematic areas (failures) in different contact points of a service blueprint system. The management of the contact points in this blueprint system can be coordinated more easily, if the management can identify those problematic areas that negatively affect the whole tourist experience. Given that these problem areas play a critical role in planning and organizing the customer quality improvement strategy of the event, the management can build a long-term data pool about the failures and effects with the aim of avoiding similar circumstances and situations that may occur in the future and can affect satisfaction, word of mouth, the tourist experience and tourist loyalty, and hence the sustainability of the small-scale sport event. Authors further argue that the analysis of Services Blueprinting can be combined with other useful managerial tools, like the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis to better manage the contact points, the “moments of truth” of tourist experiences in the sport event service system.

The authenticity of tourism experiences and the commodification of tourism offering were discussed in Chapter 11 by utilizing a case study approach. The author argued that destinations rely not only on authenticity of their attractiveness but also strive to attract tourists by tailoring experiences that can meet high-order needs of tourists. However, these destinations are under threat by commodification and McDonaldization due to excessive use of resources as a result of mass tourism. As suggested by theories on authenticity, commodification and McDonaldization are critical in understanding dimensions of tourist experiences. Hosting individuals traveling to specific destinations who are trying to satisfy their high-order needs such as authenticity seeking, prestige, and learning requires managers and planners to endeavor to maintain the authenticity of their destination, culture, and events. Indeed, the case study has demonstrated that destinations rely on not only the object authenticity of their attractiveness but also strive to create experiences that would differentiate themselves from their competitors. Authors argued that a competitive edge will be gained by providers who are able to satisfy a consumer’s search for personal achievement and transformation. Therefore, it is crucial for the political and developmental agendas to preserve their authenticity rather than develop places, cultures, and communities. Although the authenticity of the tourist experience is of importance, it is more important to ensure that local communities feel comfortable with their role as performers and entertainers. This includes the degree to which they are prepared to allow the commodification of their culture for touristic purposes. In this chapter, the author has argued for greater attention to be paid to the role of authentic experiences in attracting and satisfying individuals. However, the author also suggested that contemporary tourism may appear to be moving into the “post-authentic” age, but authenticity may be lurking beneath the surfaces of post-modern attractions, though in an inverted, and in the eyes of some, perverted guise. Therefore, the ultimate goal for destination managers and planners is to focus on the experiences without compromising on authenticity, uniqueness, and genuineness of the attraction while refraining over-commercialization and McDonaldization of the destination.

Best practices and guidelines for managing experiences within the field of creative tourism were presented in Chapter 12. After examining the best practices in managing experiences, the author proposed some basic guidelines for DMOs and DMCs interested in designing activities that cater to travelers who are seeking for creative tourism experiences. Most of the analyses, examples, and observations presented in this chapter were based on management of the Creative Tourism Network® and the approaches adopted by its members in managing their creative tourism offerings all over the world. The author argued that the emergence of the creative and experiential tourism in general is only the visible part of the paradigm shift that is affecting the tourism industry, involving new challenges and opportunities. The author suggested that the emergence of the creative tourism implies a completely new form of management for both cultural and tourist fields, that can lead to the creation of specific skills and general guidelines to be adapted to different contexts.

A brief overview of green principles associated with developing ecotourism destinations was presented in Chapter 13. Furthermore, green ecotourism destination planning was discussed within the context of the tourists’ experience to highlight critical factors necessary for sustainable ecotourism destination development. Authors suggested that even though the green market is still in its infancy, tourists are increasingly demanding green accommodations. Tourists across the globe are much more conscious of their impact on the natural environment and are continuously finding ways to be more environmentally friendly. They are willing to pay higher prices if it means that local labor conditions are fair, products and services provided are organic, the negative impact on the environment is minimized, environmental sustainability is guaranteed, and more funds are used to increase the conservation of natural areas and decrease the footprint of tourists in significant natural tourism attractions. Authors further argued that a green, sustainable ecotourism destination can only be developed if green principles are incorporated from the input phase. The input phase (e.g., building materials and infrastructure systems for water and energy) determines the output phase (e.g., operational materials, activities, suppliers, activities, and marketing) and, subsequently, the level of sustainability. It is therefore crucial to plan for these aspects and the level to which the destination aims to adhere to these aspects, as they are costly. Authors also suggested that ecotourism destinations have to ensure that they are continuously identifying factors that influence the experience of tourists at the destination and manage these factors accordingly to maintain optimum visitor experience which could lead to a competitive advantage. This supports the notion that tourists’ experience is based on the perception, expectations, and level of satisfaction whilst visiting the ecotourism destination. Ecotourism destinations have to be proactive in ensuring tourists a memorable experience before, during, and after their visits to an ecotourism destination. This could lead to a more conscious tourist and support of global sustainability.

Rural tourists’ experiences in relation to travel motives and activities performed in rural areas in Cyprus were examined in Chapter 14. Authors also explored tourists’ overall satisfaction with rural tourism experience with regard to several physical, social, and symbolic attributes derived from the literature and elicited recommendations that can improve tourists’ experiences in rural areas. The author argued that the rural tourism experience is fragmented and largely influenced by tourist motives, expectations, prior experience, and regional characteristics. The rural tourist space can be adjusted, with elements combined, in order to appeal to different market segments. The author suggested that rural tourists differ from other tourists and the need to categorize them into distinctive segments with relation to their motives, degree of interest with specific aspects of rurality, and level of involvement in activities is imminent. The study also reported varying opinions with regard to the rural tourism experience in Cyprus. Specifically, the lack of activities and attractions seems to be a focal point which the tourism authorities need to address if the experience of rural tourists is to be improved. Authors argued that prolonging the length of stay of visitors in the rural regions and enriching the tourist experience depend on the variety of activities and attractions appealing to different groups of tourists. In addition, a better organization and coordination of development and marketing efforts is required among key stakeholders in providing an enjoyable experience to rural tourists. The availability of attractions and facilities is not adequate as the effectiveness of service delivery is pivotal in the tourist experience. Lack of business knowledge and expertise are the key obstacles in the development of rural tourism in Cyprus. Thus, training rural tourism entrepreneurs and providing marketing support are essential tactics that regional tourism boards need to take into consideration.

The relationship between service innovation and experience creation within the context of spas, wellness, and medical tourism was discussed in Chapter 15. Authors examined the relationship between service innovation and experience creation in the context of spas, wellness, and medical tourism with the aim of providing an overview of service innovation theory and models and applying them to the spa, wellness, and medical tourism sectors. Authors argued that the inseparable nature of the spa, wellness, and medical tourism sectors suggests that it is critical to consider service innovation in the creation of guest experiences. Treatments and therapies depend on close interaction with healthcare practitioners and therapists, and they are essential to the quality of the service delivery. Authors suggested that the models of delivery should include strong elements of co-creation with tailor-made packages and treatments because customers are more and more involved in their own experience creation. Although the research data presented in this chapter suggested that technology might not be as important as operators imagined, “flexible solutions” (e.g., wearables) are becoming more and more sophisticated and can easily be used on holiday as well as at home. Authors argued that tourists are never far from specific medical advice, even when away from home. There are also significant efforts being made to make the medical experience more comfortable and less anxiety-inducing. The servicescape can be of considerable importance for spas, wellness, and medical facilities, and even though the research data presented suggested that design may not be as important as operators thought, the atmosphere of spas and wellness facilities depends very much on highly subjective and intangible elements such as design, light, color, scent, and music. While service innovation factors may not be as important as market orientation, service orientation, or organizational factors, service innovation nevertheless play an extremely significant role in the (co)creation of spas, wellness, and medical tourist experiences.

Part III: Marketing: Communicating and Promoting Tourism Experiences

Conceptual and practical issues related to marketing tourism experiences were discussed in Part III of this handbook. In this part, approaches and communication strategies utilized to market tourism experiences were examined from both theoretical and practical perspectives. This part included a total of six chapters. These chapters specifically focused on marketing and communication strategies designed for marketing tourism experiences, role of social media in experience sharing and communication, the role of internet in marketing tourism experiences, marketing niche tourism experiences such as culinary tourism and sport tourism, and the role of marketing in managing risk perceptions.

Utilizing a case study approach, the role of social media in experience sharing and communication of a gay film festival in one of the most popular world tourist destinations was examined in Chapter 16. The study presented in this chapter was focused on a single gay cultural event of a relatively small scale (2,000–3,000 attendees) organized by a militant association. Authors reported that the event’s utilization of online promotions was relatively poor; maybe due to the size of the event, organizers underestimated the importance of OSMs for the event’s promotion and development. Authors also reported that most of the attendees were not very happy about the lack of online advertising and communication about the festival. Authors suggested that providing communication opportunities about the festival via OSMs could have enabled organizers to attract more people, build up a loyal audiences and thus ensure that more external audiences will attend the next events. Authors discussed a number of benefits of OSMs in marketing such as cost, speed, anonymity, and the size of storage of information. However, authors argued that communicating information through OSMs may not be enough because it has to be passed on to the right relays and transmitters. Authors suggested that the best strategy may be to communicate through individuals who are planning on attending the event; this can help form a large OSM community for the festival with a dedicated Facebook page and ensure a greater success of the festival by fostering a real online experience. For the post-event communication, authors suggested that the organizers can build a “collective intelligence” hub on socio-digital media to gather feedback and comments from the attendees. A well-structured online communication tool through the social media may play a critical role in loyalty formation for the festival.

Importance of theming in creating an experience was discussed in Chapter 17 by examining the similarities between the experience economy and Disneyization, with a specific focus on theming as a means of enhancing tourism experience. The authors presented several issues and guidelines related to theming to highlight important factors that visitor attraction managers need to consider when seeking to use theming to enhance or create a visitor experience. The author compared several models, with specific emphasis on finding similarities between the experience economy and Disneyization. Even though authors reported several similarities, theming was found to be the overarching aspect that combines all other similarities (such as the physical environment, staff, tourists, and souvenirs). The author strongly suggested that for successful delivery of a tourism experience, the theme should be planned meticulously as the theme is the most critical factor not only in the experience itself but also in the experience cycle.

Marketing and communication strategies and approaches for promoting culinary tourism experiences were discussed in Chapter 18. In this chapter, the author specifically focused on identifying issues and approaches utilized in the development and marketing of culinary tourism experiences with the goal of determining the value of collaborative forms of product development and marketing. The author argued that collaborative approaches in developing and marketing of culinary tourism experiences through networks, partnerships, and alliances are critical for the success and beneficial to all stakeholders. The chapter highlighted the importance of collaborative forms of product development and innovation in marketing in terms of both networking and collaboration for both academics and practitioners in the growing area of experiential culinary tourism. Furthermore, the author indicated that this chapter contributes to our understanding of how strategic approaches to developing culinary tourism experiences can benefit destination branding and marketing, a lesson that might be applicable to other cities wishing to identify themselves with regional cuisines.

A comprehensive review of the risk perception literature in the tourism field and conceptual and operational definitions of risk perceptions was discussed in Chapter 19. Furthermore, based on the extensive literature review, a conceptual model of risk perceptions and operationalization of risk perception variables were provided in this chapter. Authors first provided an overview of major criticisms of the travel risk literature. In an effort to address these criticisms, authors proposed a conceptual model to understand the risk-related constructs of perceived risk (perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, affective risk perceptions), perceived efficacy (self-efficacy, response efficacy), and engagement in a recommended risk reduction behavior. Authors argued that adopting a theory-based, interdisciplinary approach to the conceptualization and operationalization of risk-related constructs can provide a more holistic understanding of the role of risk in travel decision-making. Authors further argued that a majority of risk-related variables (i.e., perceived severity, affective risk perceptions, self-efficacy, response efficacy, and engagement in a recommended risk reduction behavior) have not been studied in the context of international travel. Therefore, testing of the proposed conceptual model can provide a better understanding of the dynamic processes between the risk-related constructs, as well as their role in the destination choice process. The authors considered this study to be a one of the first steps in the process of moving the travel risk literature forward. An obvious next step in the process is to test the proposed conceptual model. As previously noted, going from theory to operationalization has been a challenge for travel risk scholars. Current measures have mainly failed to capture the multidimensional nature of perceived risk. A possible solution to this challenge is to look outside and turn to other fields that have extensively studied these constructs. For example, tourism scholars can adopt the measures used in health behavior and psychology. However, it should be noted that the measures will need to be adapted to reflect the dynamic nature of tourism because in the health behavior literature, for example, studies have focused on risk associated with topics such as AIDS prevention and breast cancer screenings. Another next step in the process is to test the proposed conceptual model in a variety of settings (e.g., different destinations, different types of risk, different tourist origin markets). Such research is necessary to refine the proposed conceptual model.

Marketing strategies and promotional tools used in marketing of sport tourism experiences in a mature tourism destination were discussed in Chapter 20. In this chapter, authors first investigated the success of specific marketing tools used to promote sport tourism and sport tourism experiences in Barbados by examining the responses of various sporting and tourism bodies. Afterwards, authors examined how marketing/promotional tools can contribute to better market sport tourism experiences. Authors reported that many of the promotional tools implemented in Barbados during their marketing process correspond with those used internationally. However problems of poor and insufficient sporting facilities as well as little collaboration between tourism and sporting entities hamper the success of Barbados as a sport tourism destination. This further minimized Barbados’ ability to market favorable tourism experiences. Based on the findings, authors concluded that while promotional tools are essential in attracting tourists, other elements must also be taken into consideration to ensure sport tourists have positive experiences which can lead to a successful sport tourism destination.

The role of information and communication technologies in marketing tourism experiences was investigated in Chapter 21 by analyzing and examining the role of ICTs and the emerging trends and issues in marketing tourism experiences. Authors first reviewed the previous conceptual frameworks and then identified the key issues and trends that are considered to be for ICT-based tourism marketing. This chapter illustrated the many types of ICTs (web-based, social media, location-based, virtual and augmented reality, mobile and smart technologies) and their varied impacts on tourism experiences, tourist expectations, and visitor needs. It painted a picture of a highly technology-based tourism experience that offers new interplays between marketers and tourists and lots of avenues for experience as well as marketing content co-creation. The chapter offered a conceptual framework to show how ICTs have disrupted the exclusive rights of tourism marketers to tourism experience creation and promotion by facilitating new connections among tourists themselves, with marketers, with residents, and with employees. The chapter discussed not only emerging opportunities for marketers to take advantage of new ICTs but also urged tourism marketers to realize its increasing dependence on technology and its need to adjust strategies and tactics aimed at developing and selling compelling tourism experiences. A number of trends were listed in the chapter that illustrate how tourism marketing is changing and presented examples of how tourism marketers have tried to use emerging ICTs for the marketing of tourism experiences. The chapter further emphasized the changing role of marketing and the need of marketers to redefine themselves as trusted experts, curators, experience facilitators, reputation custodians, and storytellers. The trends identified in the chapter raised important questions about the type of knowledge and skills these new tourism marketers need and to what extent tourism marketers have shifted their assumptions and implemented new practices. Authors strongly suggested that more research is needed to answer the questions raised in this chapter. Authors also argued that there is a growing need or research that looks at marketing effectiveness in these new technological contexts.

Part IV: Monitoring and Evaluating Tourism Experiences

Issues and approaches related to the stage of post experience encounter was discussed in Part IV of this handbook. In this part, specific approaches and tools used to monitor and evaluate the performance of tourism destinations and businesses in developing and delivering memorable tourism experiences were discussed. This part features four chapters that examine conceptual foundations and managerial implications for program design, delivery and performance measurement, an experiential value model within the context of business tourism experiences, peer-to-peer review sites and social media strategies, and evaluations of tourism experiences.

A conceptual framework for guiding destination managers who seek to design and deliver memorable experiences appropriate to their particular destination was proposed in Chapter 22 in order to overcome the current theoretical lack of understanding of the memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) phenomena. The review of the tourism and memory literature related to experiences and the subsequent content analysis and overall synthesis of the author’s findings revealed that MTEs are composed of seven underlying conceptual components. Thus, the author argued that tourism visitation experiences should be carefully designed to ensure they include the six positive components of a potential MTE – and, to the extent possible, avoid negative, or adverse, components, which can easily undo many months and years of careful planning. Author suggested enhancing visitor involvement as co-producers of their experiences, remedying negative experiences and enhancing positive ones (e.g., dealing with stressful events and surprising visitors in positive ways), and diversifying memorabilia as ways to enhance the probability of delivering MTEs. The framework developed in this chapter provides recommendations for designing and delivering tourism programs and “experiencescapes” that can provide visitors with the underlying components of MTEs a destination can deliver. The author also argued that destination managers can use the study results to develop rating or evaluation criteria. They may learn how their businesses rank against others across memorable experiential factors and management practices by asking visitors’ questions about competitors. Since consumers have become more information oriented when deciding on destination areas, this competitive information could be transferred to advertising efforts and program development.

A theoretical framework for the development of a multi-item Business Tourist Experience Value Model was proposed in Chapter 23. The proposed model consisted of an integration and re-assessment of different elements from a range of empirical studies. The author argued that customers’ service quality assessments can be used as guide by managers to develop service quality strategies. The author argued that the proposed Business Tourism Experience Value model can support the exiting business tourism strategies by focusing on the experience, intention, and engagement of business tourist to create a better understanding of their post consumption behavior. When business managers subscribe to experience value and satisfaction practices it gives them the best chance to regain their vitality during favorable business environment, and to sustain their business practices during challenging economic times. According to the author, the proposed model captures the conceptual, methodological, and practical aspects of experiential value research in a business tourism context. From a conceptual viewpoint, this research complements the existing literature by integrating the theory of business models and experience economy in the context of business tourism. This model can be used to assess the performance of suppliers of business tourism services. However, the author suggest that the interpretation of this model must be done with caution as one cannot assume that this model considers the unique business tourism service offering and diverse cultural perspectives of the country in which the research is conducted.

Changes in tourist consumer behavior brought about by social media and the possible strategies for tourism businesses to address resulting challenges were discussed in Chapter 24. Authors identified three main topics through extensive literature reviews, namely: (1) the antecedents (the factors motivating tourists to write online reviews); (2) the impact of eWOM on providers of tourism services (business perspective); and (3) the influence of online reviews on consumers’ behavior (demand perspective). Authors also examined the impact of online reviews on tourism businesses and outlined a series of adequate strategies formulated for business practitioners. Authors argued that tourism businesses have to adopt and implement suitable strategies. Two preliminary actions/strategies that can be utilized are: (i) understanding SM: it is essential for tourism businesses to understand what SM are and how social media should be used; and (ii) the need to truly understand how to execute digital marketing effectively. Authors concluded that the interaction of main challenges in the tourism market with the digital environment and the adoption and use of SM clearly indicates that tourism businesses need to adopt new approaches and implement new strategies in performing their managerial and marketing activities. Tourism businesses need to incorporate use of SM in their managerial and digital marketing activities. In doing so, they will have the input and knowledge needed to invest in creating innovative customer experiences.

An evaluation of heritage tourism experiences was presented in Chapter 25 in a research study with empirical investigation on tourism experiences specific to heritage attractions. The study analyzed five principles of experience economy within the context of heritage attractions with the goal of finding out if heritage attractions are using the principles of experience economy to provide a fulfilling experience to visitors. The principles of the experience economy are having consistent theme, using positive cues, eliminating negative cues, offering memorabilia, and engaging the five senses. Results revealed that majority of visitors either agree or strongly agree that many of the elements comprising the principles of experience economy are in place. One similar drawback reported in the study among the attractions is that they all use visual and aural messages which can distract or contradict the theme and consequently visitors’ experience. Author suggested that the major contribution of this study is that it informs management of heritage attractions of the importance of having a theme that is consistent, elements of positive cues, elements that will eliminate negative cues, and memorabilia and sensory elements to provide a fulfilling experience for visitors.

Overall, the Handbook of Managing and Marketing Tourism Experiences provided conceptual and practical evidence for the critical importance of adopting and implementing appropriate management and marketing approaches and strategies to address the challenges and opportunities in the emerging field of tourism experiences. It is worth noting that there is no magic recipe to guarantee the successful planning and efficient management of tourism experiences. All involved actors, stakeholders, planners, managers, and marketers must be aware of the challenges, obstacles, and difficulties in this field as discussed in previous chapters. They have to devote energy and resources to surmount them and achieve a sustainable and successful partnership in order to develop and deliver tourism experiences that exceeds customers’ expectations. It is quite clear that the challenges, problems, and opportunities will continue to evolve as all tourism destinations and businesses strive to offer better tourism experiences in an increasingly competitive business environment.

Dogan Gursoy

Marios Sotiriadis

Book Chapters

We’re listening — tell us what you think, something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

• Partners and Fundings
• events & news
• green hotels
• who’s talking about us

Solutions to Overtourism: Towards New Strategies of Sustainable Tourism

Many destinations are struggling with Overtourism. From Gated Tourism to Deseasonalisation, find out the possible solutions to overtourism.

According to the World Tourism Organization, in 2030 the international flow of tourists will even exceed 2 billion. And even today , these flows are not equally distributed , as Overtourism affects only some specific places at specific times .

Millions of tourists overcrowd beaches , art cities , historical and cultural sites , and natural parks .

This kind of tourists is almost always day-trippers . They do not usually stay overnight , as they only stroll around for some hours , according to a ‘being there , done that ‘ attitude for which they want to do and see as much as possible .

And it is this very quantity over quality approach that is damaging forever the most beautiful areas in the world .

According to Future100 , these destinations are sadly undergoing a process of ‘ Disneyfication ’. They are becoming a sort of playground or a theme park , in which ‘ Disneyland -size crowds’ only take some selfies , and passively stroll around. They do not actively look for meaningful experiences and do not care about respecting other tourists , or the environment .

Could tourists actually be too much for a destination? Even if large tourist flows may bring large economic revenues , they also bring a strong negative impact on a destination.

Why Should Everybody Care About Overtourism?

According to the World Tourism Organisation, Overtourism is the impact of tourism on a destination, that excessively influences in a negative way the quality of life of locals and the quality itself of the visitor’s experience .

And it goes without saying that this adversely impacts the environment too.

In fact, Overtourism translates into irreversible , negative , environmental effects, which may change forever the uniqueness of certain destinations.

This will result in an inauthentic , shallow and too fast experience, which is harmful not only to locals and to the environment , but also for ourselves as visitors and for any other tourist who has decided to visit the same place at the same time.

Overtourism in Alpine Region Areas

It is also clear that the issue of Overtoursim gets even worse in areas such as natural parks and mountain areas , such as the Alps .

These areas are even protected ones, as they are housing the majority of flora and fauna species in Europe.

In fact, these areas usually attract tourists who look for a slow , immersive and sustainable tourist experience.

As they look for quiet and untouched natural areas, on the contrary , they most often end up finding themselves in a massive crowd of day-trippers .

How can you help to contrast Overtourism ? Today you can choose to be a responsible tourist in following the good practices of sustainable tourism , as well as in supporting some innovative strategies which had been designed to end tourist overcrowding and provide more deep and meaningful experiences .

Sustainable Tourism and Solutions to Overtourism

Luckily today even the supply and demand of sustainable tourism are increasing . In fact, also due to the current Covid situation , a growing number of tourists is looking for a type of holiday which allows social distancing and keeps the number of other visitors to a minimum .

It is all about holidays where tourists can stay outdoor while breathing fresh mountain air and listen to the soothing sounds of nature.

This translates into a quest for a more sustainable , authentic and slower tourist experience, especially situated in green mountain areas, such as the Alpine region.

And especially during last summer , there has been an incredible increase in the tourist demand towards these destinations .

How to Contrast Overtourism? Gated Tourism and Deseasonalisation

As solutions to  Overtourism , many destinations are testing new approaches , in order to create truly sustainable tourism from every point of view. This concerns precisely those areas which are generally subject to overcrowding , or which could shortly become so.

Two interesting strategies are Gated tourism and Deseasonalisation . These 2 strategies have already been adopted in such areas as Komodo National Park in Indonesia , and the sacred Uluru Mountain in Australia .

It would be interesting to take into account these approaches in the Alpine Region too. They would allow to both protect the environment and inhabitants , while also allowing social distancing and a more authentic experience.

1. Gated Tourism

One of the best solutions to overtourism, experimented by some natural areas, is  Gated Tourism . It’s a system that provides new regulations either limiting entries in a certain place or over a certain period of time.

This could happen:

• either by implementing a reservation system on payment
• or by  making a place accessible to visitors only in certain periods of the year .

Gated tourism would not only limit tourist flows but would actually attract quality  tourists, who are willing to spend money to access certain areas, or to visit them in specific periods of the year.

Such a tourist would certainly visit a destination in a slow , authentic and sustainable fashion.

2. Deseasonalisation

One of the main characteristics of the tourism sector today is seasonality . However, this can become a problem , especially when connecting to Overtourism . And especially in this historical period.

It would be interesting to adopt Deseasonalisation in the context of redistribution of tourist flows. For example, tourists could be encouraged to visit destinations in different periods or over longer ones.

How to do that? A possibility is the one of offering the same product to a different target, or further segmenting tourism in more specific niches . Some examples are culinary tourism, wellness tourism, or sports tourism.

Another possibility is offering interesting packaged activities in different seasons of the year. Packages could perhaps connect to places , events or initiatives of a place that tourists usually barely know.

Promoting other aspects which make the Alpine region unique, as compared to those that mostly make them famous all over the world is key .

In doing so, the environment , local tourist infrastructures, and local population would be more able to support tourist flows, and will ultimately provide visitors with a more memorable experience. Such a shift would truly enhance the uniqueness of a certain area and the tourist experience itself.

The Desire to Travel will be Uncontrollable, But we Can Control Tourist Flows

Safeguarding tourists and the environment, while preserving the uniqueness of the Alpine territories, will therefore be fundamental in the Post-Covid era .

If on the one hand, given the prolonged lockdown we all have experienced, the desire to travel will be uncontrollable , the one thing we can control is the tourist flow .

And it will be possible to do so by following strategies such as Gated Tourism and Deseasonalization .

Such approaches would preserve both the uniqueness of the Alpine territories and the quality of Alpine tourism itself.

What of these solutions to overtourism could be more successful?

Featured image via Canva

You might also like

Save our cities from overtourism!

SET (Sud-Europe facing Overtourism): a network created by 15 European cities to denounce the destructive effects of mass tourism and promote the research for a new touristic system. Mass tourism brings enormous amounts of tourists in the main cities. The effects of the so-called overtourism are indeed severe. Cities lost their original artistic, natural and cultural heritage: […]

Lake Braies: a sustainable solution against overtourism

Lake Braies, in South Tyrol, is the largest lake in the Dolomites. Its emerald green and turquoise waters make it one of the most loved Italian lakes. However, the place is facing a serious overtourism problem, and an efficient solution was adopted. A few years ago, Lake Braies was mainly frequented by hikers, bikers, and […]

Pacific Islands: the Paradises ruined by ‘Overtourism’

‘Overtourism’: too much mass tourism threatens fragile ecosystems, such as the Pacific Islands. Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand the most affected countries. Strategies to preserve destinations and promote responsible tourism are essential Admiring the photos of the dream beaches of some islands of Polynesia or the Philippines is not surprising if in the last few years […]

Overtourism: Causes, Consequences and Solutions

Overtourism: one of the words that people use most in recent years. In effect, more and more often, tourist destinations suffer from overtourism, tourism overcrowding. Places that everyone wants to see because they are “famous”. Movie scenes shot in locations (such as Lake Braies) that now attract hordes of tourists looking for a short trip. Simply, they […]

If you build it, they will come: Why infrastructure is crucial to tourism growth and competitiveness

Tourism is expanding globally, but can infrastructure keep up?

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Maksim Soshkin

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Infrastructure is affecting economies, industries and global issues

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:, infrastructure.

With international tourist arrivals reaching 1.4 billion in 2018— two years ahead of initial projections —the travel and tourism industry will continue to drive global connectivity. The World Economic Forum’s 2019 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report shows this growth is backed by improving global travel and tourism competitiveness, which stems, in part, from growing aviation capacity, increased international openness, and declining travel costs.

However, the report also shows the need for developing infrastructure, which may not be able to keep up with the additional 400 million arrivals forecasted by 2030 . While infrastructure challenges differ for various regions and levels of economic development, failure to address these challenges may reduce competitiveness, hurting the travel and tourism industry.

Infrastructure—including air, ground, port, and tourism services like hotel rooms and car rental services—plays a vital role in travel and tourism competitiveness, serving as the arteries of the industry. And from a global perspective, infrastructure continues to improve.

Since 2017 , air transport infrastructure is one of the most improved components in the index, with strong growth in scores across most regions, subregions and economic development levels. However, much of this performance has come from growing route capacity and the number of carriers operating. Perceptions of the quality of air transport infrastructure, while better since 2017, have grown more slowly, while most recent airport density figures indicate slightly reduced airport access than before. These results potentially indicate that travel demand and airline growth may eventually outstrip hard-infrastructure capacity. By 2037, the International Air Transport Association projects the number of air passengers could double to 8.2 billion.

The report also shows that global perspectives on the quality and efficiency of ground transport infrastructure and services have remained, on average, near stagnant. Given the projected growth in travel as well as the need for infrastructure to accommodate more tourism-related needs, significant work will be required to bridge multi-trillion dollar investment deficits for airports, ports, rail and roads.

The results could be used to assess the infrastructure readiness of economies by looking at their scores for infrastructure and tourist arrival trends. The figure above compares country subregion and income-level groupings against their growth in international tourist arrivals from 2013 to 2017. It is clear tourism is growing in most subregions and among all income groups, with many above the global rate of growth.

Most of the regions on the right side of the figure above are relatively advanced countries with well-developed infrastructure. As a result, they may have more capacity to handle tourism growth. Moreover, it is also apparent that, despite market maturity, such countries are still welcoming more and more tourists each year. As the figure shows, high-income economies had the largest increase in arrivals, growing faster than the global rate. But while these economies have strong infrastructure, their share of arrivals and growth rates reveals the pressure on their infrastructure.

High-income economies analysed accounted for nearly 65% of arrivals in 2017 and 74.3% of growth in arrivals between 2013 and 2017. Subregions like Southern Europe and Eastern Asia-Pacific have seen rapid growth in arrivals, putting pressure on their more developed infrastructure. Arrivals in Western European countries, which on average, have the best infrastructure in the ranking, might seem to be below the global rate of growth but accounted for nearly one-fifth of global arrivals in 2017, and nearly 14% of the increase globally since 2013.

Northern Europe has experienced some of the fastest growth in arrivals in recent years and had the third-largest improvement in scores for air transport infrastructure since 2017. But its well-developed infrastructure may still come under strain, with this year’s report showing the region’s growth in ground, port and tourist infrastructure was below the global average.

South-East Asia has also experienced strong growth in tourism in recent years, but its near-average infrastructure scores indicate it might lack the capacity to continue accepting tourists. Countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines have recently seen a surge in tourism, but, despite improvement in scores, all rank below average for infrastructure.

The regions on the left side of the figure mostly consist of lower-income countries. While these economies do not account for the same volume of arrivals as the more developed regions and countries, they still face capacity issues because their infrastructure is less developed. Nevertheless, due to higher price competitiveness, economic growth and declining travel barriers, many of these countries have also seen some of the biggest percentage increases in arrivals.

Countries in subregions on the upper left-hand quadrant may be at greatest risk of strain due to rapid visitor growth and underdeveloped infrastructure. In particular, this is an issue for South Asia, Western Africa, South America and the Balkans and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, nations on the bottom left-hand quadrant have less tourism growth, though this might be due to their limited infrastructure capacity, among other factors.

How countries deal with their infrastructure will be a crucial factor in their long-term travel and tourism competitiveness. Even nations with developed airports and roads may face strain under growing utilization, which may lead to issues related to quality.

Have you read?

These islands are using tourists to help offset the effects of tourism, why china will soon be the world's top destination for tourists, in the age of the tourism backlash, we need 'destination stewards', tourism is damaging the ocean. here’s what we can do to protect it.

However, it is also important to note competitiveness relies on far more than just infrastructure. Emerging economies also have more work to do when it comes to improving business environments, addressing safety and security concerns and reducing travel barriers. Natural assets, which attract a significant number of visitors internationally, also need to be better protected. For example, South America and South-East Asia outscore the global average for natural resources by about 27% and 11%, respectively, but score below average for environmental sustainability. Consequently, many countries in these subregions may be at risk of damaging the very assets that make great travel destinations.

In some cases, improvements in one area of competitiveness without progress elsewhere can also lead to issues. For instance, Iceland’s improvement in air connectivity and surging visitor volumes was not matched by price competitiveness and overall tourism capacity, potentially explaining its recent slowdown .

Handling all these issues cannot be the purview of only travel and tourism stakeholders. Improving competitiveness, especially as it relates to travel and tourism, requires a holistic, multistakeholder approach.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda .chakra .wef-n7bacu{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-weight:400;} Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

.chakra .wef-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;} More on Industries in Depth .chakra .wef-17xejub{-webkit-flex:1;-ms-flex:1;flex:1;justify-self:stretch;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;} .chakra .wef-nr1rr4{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;white-space:normal;vertical-align:middle;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:0.75rem;border-radius:0.25rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;line-height:1.2;-webkit-letter-spacing:1.25px;-moz-letter-spacing:1.25px;-ms-letter-spacing:1.25px;letter-spacing:1.25px;background:none;padding:0px;color:#B3B3B3;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:0.875rem;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:1rem;}} See all

Robot rock stars, pocket forests, and the battle for chips - Forum podcasts you should hear this month

Robin Pomeroy and Linda Lacina

April 29, 2024

Agritech: Shaping Agriculture in Emerging Economies, Today and Tomorrow

Confused about AI? Here are the podcasts you need on artificial intelligence

Robin Pomeroy

April 25, 2024

Which technologies will enable a cleaner steel industry?

Daniel Boero Vargas and Mandy Chan

Industry government collaboration on agritech can empower global agriculture

Abhay Pareek and Drishti Kumar

April 23, 2024

Nearly 15% of the seafood we produce each year is wasted. Here’s what needs to happen

Charlotte Edmond

April 11, 2024